Ebay's CEO John Donahoe is serious about Bitcoin, and thinks the inclusion of “digital currencies” into services like Paypal and eBay itself is probably inevitable.
These surprising and potentially game-changing comments came during an interview with CNBC reporter Matthew J. Belvedere.
While refusing to give any time table on when Paypal (which is owned by eBay) or eBay will begin integrating Bitcoin, Donahoe confirmed that he does own Bitcoin but is more interested in it as a technology than an investment commodity.
It's the technology behind Bitcoin that impresses Donahoe and makes him think that “[Paypal is] going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet.”
“[Paypal is] going to have to integrate digital currencies in our wallet.”
Donahoe also stated that he doesn't know how fast digital currencies will grow or how big they will get, but he does see it happening eventually. According to Donahoe, Bitcoin will initially be utilized in “different use cases” like sending money across borders (e.g. remittances) and then will eventually be used by merchants as well.
Donahoe said he doesn't see Bitcoin as a speculative asset, but it appears that an announcement from Paypal and Ebay on getting into the game is a question of not “if” but more of “when” – which would undoubtedly result in a huge price spike and a lot of excited people.