At the beginning of March, PayPal Holdings, Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire Curv to accelerate and expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
In October 2020, PayPal announced its commitment to help shape the role that digital currencies will play in the future of financial services and commerce. To drive sustained growth and innovation in this area, the company recently created a business unit focused on blockchain, crypto and digital currencies. Curv will join the newly formed group, adding technical expertise to PayPal. Curv’s team will work alongside Paxos, as PayPal’s partnership with Paxos has allowed users in the US to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies from their PayPal account.
“The acquisition of Curv is part of our effort to invest in the talent and technology to realise our vision for a more inclusive financial system,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, vice president and general manager, blockchain, crypto and digital currencies, PayPal. “During our conversations with Curv’s team, we’ve been impressed by their technical talent, entrepreneurial spirit, and the thinking behind the technology they’ve built in the last few years. We’re excited to welcome the Curv team to PayPal.”
Founded in 2018 by CEO Itay Malinger and CTO Dan Yadlin, Curv is a provider of digital asset security technology that is delivered as a fully scalable, enterprise-grade and compliant cloud service. Its multi-party computation (MPC) technology provides institutions protection, instant availability and total autonomy over digital assets required to thrive in the digital economy. Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, the company operates a cloud-based service that lets consumers access their crypto wallets without any hardware device.
“As a pioneer in security infrastructure for digital assets, Curv is proud to be recognised as an innovator and trusted partner to leading financial institutions around the world,” said Itay Malinger. “Now, as the adoption of digital assets accelerates, we feel there’s no better home than PayPal to continue our journey of innovation. We’re excited to join PayPal in expanding the role these assets play in the global economy.”
PayPal expects to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2021. No official amount for the purchase has been disclosed by PayPal, though various reports have suggested the fee was around £200 million.
