Coinbase adds PayPal withdrawal support for European countries

When Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) announced this past December that its customers in the U.S. could enjoy instant withdrawals through PayPal, it added that the same support would soon be coming to other countries. That promise has now been fulfilled, as the California-based cryptocurrency exchange has rolled out PayPal withdrawal support for the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). 

In a statement on the company’s website, Coinbase indicates that customers in 32 countries across Europe will now be able to withdraw funds using PayPal. The support includes the 28 members of the EU, as well as the four in the EFTA – Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Other European countries could see support added later this year. 

Previously, customers in the EU could only withdraw their funds using one of two accepted processing solutions available across the continent, UK Faster Payments for British customers or Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) wire transfers for the EU and the EFTA. 

The San Francisco-based company adds in its statement, “Part of our commitment to being the safest and easiest is to support the preferred transfer options for our customers around the world. As one of the world’s easiest and most widely-used payment platforms, adding PayPal as a withdrawal option for European customers offers another great option for withdrawing their funds.”

Coinbase began offering PayPal withdrawal support for U.S. customers in June 2016. However, it later was forced to suspend the option early last year due to what it deemed to be “technical difficulties.” 

In order to take advantage of the new capability, customers only need to access their Coinbase account and then link it to their PayPal account. When requesting a withdrawal, PayPal will appear as one of the available options. 

PayPal had more than 254 million users worldwide as of the third quarter of last year. The company’s co-founder, Luke Nosek, recently said that PayPal began as a possible digital currency, stating, “Many people don’t know this, but the initial mission of PayPal was to create a global currency that was independent of interference by these, you know, corrupt cartels of banks and governments that were debasing their currencies.”