Mizuho Analyst: Bitcoin Will Make PayPal 'Center of People's Financial Lives'

PayPal's (PYPL) foray into bitcoin could become a "game changer" for both the payments company and its users, said Mizuho Securities analyst Dan Dolev in an interview with CNBC on Friday.

During the "Fast Money" interview, the analyst said the investment bank had surveyed almost 400 PayPal users and found nearly 20% had started using PayPal's new bitcoin buying and selling service. Of those, half had indicated increased engagement with the firm's services.
Mizuho sees bitcoin not as a source of revenue itself, "but as a vehicle to boost engagement on the app," and that could drive revenue growth, he said.
Further, as people start to use PayPal services more "it's going to make PayPal more the center of their financial life," according to Dolev.
The same applies to Square (SQ), the Jack Dorsey-led payments firm that offers bitcoin buying and selling through its Cash App, he added.
Dolev predicted that in 2021 there will be an "inflection point" as more and more people start using these apps, and the "trigger is bitcoin."
PayPal announced it would allow crypto buying and selling as well as crypto merchant payments on Oct. 21 and soon after launched the service early for U.S. users.

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