For everyday online purchases, countless people lean on a familiar checkout tool. Inside that ecosystem, you can buy cryptocurrency, hold coins, and move funds, and it’s possible to send bitcoin using paypal once you know the rules and limits. This walkthrough explains how transfers work, where a dedicated wallet is still the better choice, and what to expect from fees and verification.
Key Takeaways
Before diving into details, here are the essentials about using PayPal as a payment method for digital assets.
- Transfers to contacts and to an external crypto wallet have been available since 2022 — PayPal now allows both account-to-account and exchange withdrawals.
- Purchasing digital coins and paying with them went live in 2020, yet moving assets was initially restricted — PayPal.
- To transfer cryptocurrency in the app, you’ll need either a recipient from your contact list or a blockchain address, plus a completed identity check — verification required.
PayPal Transfers to External Crypto Wallets: Perks and Pitfalls
After buy options for Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) appeared in 2021, customers kept asking for withdrawals until the company enabled them in 2022. At that point, a PayPal account effectively behaved like a custodial crypto wallet: you could transfer crypto to an external wallet or an exchange, and you could send crypto between PayPal users without additional service fees.
Because you can buy crypto, sell it, pay merchants, and also send or receive BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, and PayPal USD (PYUSD) inside one app, it may feel like no other crypto wallets are necessary. The next sections show when using PayPal covers typical needs and when a standalone wallet is the smarter option.
Self-Custody
Put simply, this service functions as a custodian. That raises a key question: who holds the keys?
Every blockchain address corresponds to a pair of cryptographic keys — one public, one private — used to authorize a transaction. Ownership, because addresses are pseudonymous, is proven by possession of the private key. In short, if you don’t control the keys, you don’t truly control the coins.
With a custodial setup, exchanges and services like PayPal keep the private keys while exposing only public addresses to users. Convenience improves — a trusted intermediary signs on your behalf and you don’t risk misplacing a private key — but it comes with trade-offs.
Best practice in crypto remains self-custody. Withdrawal pauses by third parties do occur, and funds under someone else’s control can become temporarily inaccessible. By backing up a seed phrase and using a non-custodial or hardware wallet offline, you retain continuous, direct control over your crypto assets.
PayPal Fees
Fee levels known from the broader service also appear in the crypto area, primarily when you buy cryptocurrency or sell it. For sends to an external wallet or for receiving funds, you only cover the blockchain network fee; the platform itself doesn’t add a separate charge to that transaction.
Here’s the current structure in plain terms: a roughly half-percent spread is included, and there’s a purchase fee. A $1 minimum buy triggers a $0.49 charge; buys up to $200 may be charged $2.49. From just over $200 through $1,000, the fee is about one and four-fifths percent; above that range, it drops to roughly one and a half percent. For many users, an exchange often offers more economical pricing for buy crypto activity.
One practical approach is to purchase supported cryptocurrencies where fees are lower and then receive them to your PayPal balance for simple peer transfers. Keep only what you plan to send to PayPal contacts, as the transfer crypto feature may be restricted or paused at the service’s discretion.
How to Transfer Cryptocurrency From PayPal to Another Wallet Address
Before you start, make sure your PayPal account is verified for holding crypto. For any external crypto address transfer, expect an additional identity step to enable withdrawals.
- Open the Finances area and enter the Crypto section to view your balances and current prices.
- Select your Bitcoin holding, tap the Transfer arrows, and then choose the Send option.
- Provide the destination BTC address: paste it, type it carefully, or scan a QR code from your wallet or exchange. Confirm you picked the correct network — sending BTC to a Litecoin address will permanently lose funds because blockchain transactions are not reversible.
- Input the amount to move, either in USD value or in crypto units. For BTC, the minimum is 0.001 BTC, and the weekly ceiling for all crypto transfers is $10,000.
- Review every detail one more time and only then press Send now. A quick final check can prevent costly mistakes.
External sends include a network fee determined by the blockchain, not by PayPal. Until October 2023, the median fee on the Bitcoin network often sat under a dollar; with higher demand and congestion, it climbed above $10 during the referenced month.
How to Send Crypto to Other PayPal Users
For transfers between PayPal users, no service fee is charged, which makes it attractive for quick peer payments. The flow is nearly identical to sending to a blockchain address, but you choose a contact instead.
- From the Finances tab, open your crypto balance.
- Tap the Transfer arrows and pick Send to start the transaction.
- Select a recipient from your PayPal contact list and confirm it’s the right account.
- Enter the amount to send in either dollars or crypto units. For internal BTC transfers, the minimum is $0.01, and the total weekly limit across crypto transfers is $10,000.
- Confirm the details and submit. The recipient must claim the crypto within 30 days; otherwise, it times out and the amount is returned to the sender.
Why PayPal Crypto Matters
When the platform stepped into crypto in 2020, it already served hundreds of millions of active accounts globally, which signaled a powerful push toward mainstream cryptocurrency adoption.
Not everyone was convinced at the outset, especially before external transfers existed. To some, the balance looked like a number inside an app rather than real coins. The later rollout of send/receive functionality demonstrated that holdings are genuine and can move on-chain.
PayPal USD (PYUSD) was integrated quickly, helping the stablecoin gain traction. Its circulating supply hovered around $159 million at the time referenced. Concerns persist around custody and brand-limited adoption, and reports have mentioned regulatory questions, including those from the SEC. Even so, PYUSD is among the licensed and closely regulated USD stablecoins, which supports a positive long-term outlook.
Conclusion
More than a typical custodial app, the PayPal approach narrows the gap between everyday users and crypto. Used alongside a self-custody wallet, it offers a straightforward on-ramp for sending, receiving, and paying with digital assets.
