PayPal Hires Chainalysis Exec To Lead Crypto Regulatory Affairs

Jesse Spiro, a former Chainalysis head of policy and regulatory affairs, will be working with PayPal’s crypto division, CoinDesk reported.

Spiro called his new job “extremely attractive and exciting” as PayPal helps to bring crypto more into the mainstream for payments, according to CoinDesk. He’ll be starting the position Aug. 2.

“At PayPal I’ll be supporting regulatory affairs for their crypto business, and I can’t tell you how exciting that is in relation to the future of crypto and what the future landscape is going to look like,” Spiro told CoinDesk

“The fact that PayPal has the global reach that they do, the technology and the resources behind them and the fact that as an MSB [money services business] of their size [they have] embraced cryptocurrency, I think it’s so exciting,” he added, per CoinDesk.

PayPal has had bitcoin buying and selling functionality since October, having planned it for months prior to that debut, CoinDesk reported.

Since then, PayPal has been a big advocate for crypto’s mainstream momentum. It has been working on hiring a crypto custodian and putting out crypto withdrawals as a service offered, according to CoinDesk.

PayPal’s devotion to crypto can be seen in statements from CEO Dan Schulman, who said in April that the PayPal cryptocurrency service could hit $200 million in volume in months.

According to Schulman, the amount of accounts with digital wallets with PayPal has hit over 375 million, with 30 million merchants as well.

Because of the skyrocketing numbers, Schulman said he thinks the platform now has a chance of competing against rivals in a much quicker manner.

He said there will be improvements in payments in the future, such as more changes in the next five years than in the previous 30 due to digital currencies becoming more common.

“We are moving into the era of digital currencies, and those digital currencies hold tremendous promise, whether these are cryptocurrencies or central bank digital currencies,” Schulman said.