Almost 20% of PayPal Users Have Traded Bitcoin on the App

Nearly one-fifth of PayPal (PYPL) users have already traded bitcoin using the PayPal app, according to a report published Tuesday by Mizuho Securities and obtained by CoinDesk.

Per the Mizuho survey of 380 users, about 65% would use bitcoin as a currency at PayPal's 28 million merchants; 17% of these users have already used the app to buy and sell bitcoin.
Bitcoin exuberance boosts user engagement, the survey found, with bitcoin traders reporting more than three times higher usage frequency compared with non-bitcoin traders. They also held larger cash balances, the survey found.
"About 50% of PayPal bitcoin traders reported increased usage of the PayPal app after beginning to trade bitcoin," the survey found. "This compares with just 9% who reported reduced engagement."
The survey comes over a month after PayPal announced its plans to support bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as CoinDesk reported at the time, and only a few weeks after the payments firm removed the waitlist to access the service, citing overwhelming demand.
But converting non-bitcoin traders into cryptocurrency users is a challenge for PayPal, the survey found. Only 8% of non-bitcoin traders said they would plan to trade the leading cryptocurrency in the future on PayPal's app while 42% said they "don't know yet," according to Mizuho.
Citing the results of the survey, the firm raised its stock trading target on PayPal to $290 per share, up from the prior target of $270. In recent trading, shares of PayPal were up about 2.37% to $219.20. Mizuho maintained its "buy" rating on the payments giant.

Mizuho survey responses to buying and paying with bitcoin on PayPal.

UPDATE (Nov. 2, 01:50 UTC): Added number of users surveyed by Mizuho to the first bullet point.

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Almost 20% of PayPal Users Have Used App to Trade Bitcoin, Mizuho Says

About 65% of users would use bitcoin as a currency at PayPal's 28 million merchants.