Mizuho Analyst: Bitcoin Will Make PayPal 'Center of People's Financial Lives'

PayPal's (PYPL) foray into bitcoin could become a "game changer" for both the payments company and its users, said Mizuho Securities analyst Dan Dolev in an interview with CNBC on Friday.

• During the "Fast Money" interview, the analyst said the investment bank had surveyed almost 400 PayPal users and found nearly 20% had started using PayPal's new bitcoin buying and selling service. Of those, half had indicated increased engagement with the firm's services.
• Mizuho sees bitcoin not as a source of revenue itself, "but as a vehicle to boost engagement on the app," and that could drive revenue growth, he said.
• Further, as people start to use PayPal services more "it's going to make PayPal more the center of their financial life," according to Dolev.
• The same applies to Square (SQ), the Jack Dorsey-led payments firm that offers bitcoin buying and selling through its Cash App, he added.
• Dolev predicted that in 2021 there will be an "inflection point" as more and more people start using these apps, and the "trigger is bitcoin."
• PayPal announced it would allow crypto buying and selling as well as crypto merchant payments on Oct. 21 and soon after launched the service early for U.S. users.

See also: PayPal, Venmo to Roll Out Crypto Buying and Selling: Sources