PayPal, the largest debit payment system, said Wednesday that it is joining the cryptocurrency market, allowing users to buy, sell and store bitcoins and other virtual coins in their PayPal account. Holders of PayPal accounts in the US will be able to use cryptocurrency in the coming weeks.

PayPal plans to add this feature to its mobile payment service – Venmo – in the first half of 2021. A statement from PayPal Holdings Inc. said that from 2021, users will be able to shop around with PayPal using cryptocurrency.

Speaking to Reuters, Dan Schulman, president and CEO of the company, said the service would help in the global use of digital currencies and the emergence of new currencies that will be created by central banks and large corporations in the future. “We are discussing with all central banks all possible options for digital currencies and what impact this will have on PayPal.”

It is noteworthy that the opportunity to shop using cryptocurrency is already offered by various fintech companies – including Square and Robinhood Markets. Nevertheless, PayPal’s solution is interesting in that this service has a much larger audience. PayPal currently has 346 million registered active accounts worldwide. And in the second quarter of 2020, $ 222 million was traded through the service.