Online payment platform PayPal has now started allowing merchants to accept payments in digital currency bitcoin.
In a SEC filing PayPal said: "Its platform supports growth with a variety of value-added services designed to help businesses of all sizes manage their cash flow, invoice clients, pay bills, and reduce the need for merchants to receive and store sensitive customer financial information.
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"A merchant can also integrate with Braintree to begin accepting payments with credit or debit cards, PayPal, Venmo, digital currencies such as Bitcoin, or other payment solutions with a single integration," it added.
The SEC filing added that PayPal intends to split from eBay at the end of 2015.
In September last year, PayPal said that it would accept Bitcoin via integration with Braintree. The company has also partnered with major bitcoin payment processors, Coinbase, BitPay and GoCoin.
"eBay and PayPal also will benefit from additional flexibility and agility to pursue new market and partnership opportunities," the filing added.
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By GlobalDataeBay president Devin Wenig said: "Both eBay and PayPal are open to [Bitcoin] — PayPal is experimenting with it — and through our relationship we’re likely to do the same. I am very open to it."
PayPal senior director of corporate strategy Scott Ellison said: "PayPal is playing the role of the intermediary, but the cost will be left up to the merchant and the payment processor. That’s why we’re proceeding gradually, supporting Bitcoin in some ways today and holding off on other ways until we see how things develop."
