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Feb 11 (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc is notlikely to buy cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, the paymentsprocessor's Chief Financial Officer John Rainey told CNBC onThursday.
"We're not going to invest corporate cash, probably, in sortof financial assets like that, but we want to capitalize on thisgrowth opportunity that's in front of us" Rainey said in a CNBCinterview.
PayPal said in October it will allow U.S. customers to holdbitcoin and other virtual coins in its online wallet, and shopusing cryptocurrencies at merchants on its network.
Earlier this week, Mastercard said it was planning tooffer support for some cryptocurrencies on its network thisyear. Asset manager BlackRock Inc and payments companySquare Inc have also recently backed cryptocurrencies.
Rainey said PayPal wanted to invest its money in servicesthe company is currently providing, such as buy now, pay later.
Buy now, pay later services have blossomed across retailwebsites during the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people turned toonline shopping.
PayPal's comments come amid a bitcoin frenzy after ElonMusk's electric vehicle company Tesla Inc revealed ithad bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency and would soonaccept it as a form of payment for cars, sending the price ofthe digital currency higher.
Following Tesla's announcement, several companies came outwith their views.
Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Officer DaraKhosrowshahi said the ride-hailing company discussed and"quickly dismissed" the idea of investing in bitcoin. However,he added that Uber could potentially accept the cryptocurrencyas payment.
Twitter Inc said it was still undecided in holdingbitcoin, while General Motors Co said it will evaluatewhether bitcoin can be accepted as payment for its vehicles.(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru;Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)