PayPal cautious about future of Libra cryptocurrency

Yahoo – AFP, September 14, 2019

PayPal is part of the nonprofit Libra Association, which will oversee the
blockchain-based coin, maintaining a real-world asset reserve to keep its
value stable (AFP Photo/Handout)

San Francisco (AFP) - PayPal is cautious about the future of Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra, which is slated to debut with the pioneering digital payments firm as part of its oversight association.

International outcry is mounting over Libra -- with central banks, governments and regulators railing against Facebook's upstart cryptocurrency and questions over how it would be regulated.

The social media giant unveiled plans in June for Libra -- which will roll out in 2020 -- to be backed by a basket of currency assets to avoid the wild swings of Bitcoin and other virtual units.

"It's a non-binding commitment," PayPal investor relations vice president Gabrielle Rabinovitch said Thursday of the California-based company signing on to the Libra Association.

"And obviously, I think there's a lot of work to happen before we get to that point where it becomes something more than just a very exciting idea."

The nonprofit Libra Association, based in Geneva, will oversee the blockchain-based coin, maintaining a real-world asset reserve to keep its value stable.

Facebook envisioned Libra as a new global cryptocurrency, pledging to deliver a stable virtual money that lives on smartphones and could bring over a billion "unbanked" people into the financial system.

Hundreds of billions of dollars are transferred annually between migrants and loved ones in their home countries, and PayPal is a player in that sector.

"The goals and ambitions of Libra are very consistent with PayPal's overall ambitions in terms of serving the underserved; democratizing access to capital," Rabinovitch said.

"So we very much believe in the potential of Libra."

PayPal Strategy Exec ‘No Longer With The Company’ After Sending Inappropriate Tweets

TechCrunch, Ryan Lawler, 4 May 2014

PayPal’s new director of strategy Rakesh “Rocky” Agrawal is interviewing. The company publicly confirmed that the relatively new hire is “no longer with the company” after sending a series of bizarre and insulting tweets last night.

Agrawal joined PayPal in March, after working for many years as a consultant to payments and commerce companies. Hired as their director of strategy, he said at the time that he would be tasked with “help[ing] small businesses and entrepreneurs understand online commerce and payments.”

(The hire was made despite previous disparaging comments from Agrawal about the company’s point-of-sale system, which he presumably had to educate small businesses about.)

The honeymoon was short. After having the “best night of his life” at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, Agrawal sent a binge of offensive and mostly incomprehensible tweets.

Those tweets, some of which insulted PayPal VP of global communications Christina Smedley, were deleted… But not before the Internet got hold of them. (This morning, Agrawal blamed some of the tweets on the different Twitter interfacefor his Galaxy S5.)

Rakesh Agrawal is no longer with the company. Treat everyone with respect. No excuses. PayPal has zero tolerance.
— PayPal (@PayPal) 3 mei 2014

PayPal confirmed that Agrawal has left the company in a tweet of its own, but declined to say whether he left voluntarily or was fired.

For what it’s worth, he seems to have offered his services to Foursquare, promising that he could make it a “$50 billion company”… No word on whether or not they’re interested in retaining his services.

Alibaba to launch virtual credit card service next week

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-08-10

Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou. (Photo/CFP)

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is scheduled to launch its virtual credit card service next week as part of its policy to promote online shopping, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The source said Alibaba's online payment service Alipay is looking to partner with banks to launch online credit lines of up to 5,000 yuan (US$800) for each customer, with an interest-free period of up to 38 days.

Online shoppers would not receive a physical credit card but an Alipay account, the source said.

On average, banks offer interest-free credit of 1,000 yuan (US$160) to 50,000 yuan (US$8,000) for a period of between 20 to 56 days.

The service will be available on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and will be confined to Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall.com sites.

Alipay and the group's financial arm Alibaba Small and Micro Financial Services Group could not be immediately contacted to confirm the report, the Chinese-language Chongqing Evening News stated.

A guaranteed subsidiary set up by Alibaba in Chongqing will act as a guarantor for buyers. A commission of between 0.8%-1% will be charged by the vendor when an order is placed. An overdue payment will result in a 50% interest rate penalty charge.

The group will first send a text message to customers whose payments are overdue, followed by a voice message, with the final recourse being a personal visit from a debt collector.

If all these methods still result in no payments for more than a year, the group will cancel the customer's account.

Asked whether the penalty was too light, the source said a detailed plan to deal with such scenarios was still being mapped out and had not been finalized.

Introducing PayPal Here: The Future of Commerce for Small Business

PayPal Blog, March 15, 2012

PayPal has a long history of helping small businesses. For 14 years we’ve provided the tools and services that have allowed millions of small businesses to grow by solving the complex and critical task of processing payments securely and easily in more than 190 countries. Helping small business owners get paid is in our DNA. That’s why I’m excited to unveil PayPal Here, a new payments solution that will help small businesses get paid – whether they do business online, offline or on mobile.

PayPal Here is the world’s first global mobile payment solution that allows small businesses to accept almost any form of payment. It’s designed to help those merchants make more sales and grow their business with confidence. And it gives them choices. They can accept payments by swiping cards with a fully encrypted thumb-sized card reader, or use a phone camera to scan and process cards and checks. It also allows them to invoice directly from the mobile app and, of course, accept PayPal in a brand new way.

So, you’re asking, how is this different from other small business mobile payment solutions? The key differentiator is that it comes from PayPal, a trusted brand in the online payments industry with more than 100 million customers around the globe and years of proven payment innovation, driving growth for millions of businesses globally. PayPal Here comes with our world-class fraud management capabilities, and our 24×7 live customer support. In addition to accepting more payment methods, PayPal Here offers a simple flat rate of 2.7% for card swipes and PayPal payments. Merchants are also given a business debit card for quick access to their funds and 1% cash back on eligible purchases – which means if you use the debit card, your fees are actually just 1.7%!

PayPal Here is just the latest addition to our comprehensive suite of payment solutions for small businesses – from PCI-compliant checkout options and invoicing, to debit cards and mobile-optimized checkout. With PayPal Here, we are now able to serve as a one-stop shop for online, offline and multi-channel small businesses.

We’re happy to be helping small businesses around the globe take the pain out of payments and let them focus on what they do best – running their business and growing their customer base.

PayPal Here is available today exclusively for select merchants in the United States, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. It will open to all other merchants in those countries next month. And we’ll announce the availability of PayPal Here in more countries soon. Be sure to visit www.paypal.com/here to get the free app and card reader as soon as it’s widely available. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below!

–David Marcus, Vice President of Mobile, PayPal

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