PayPal said on Monday that it had agreed to acquire Curv, a cloud-based infrastructure provider for security of digital assets, based in Israel.
Financial terms of the deal have not been released, but the payments giant said it plans to use its new purchase to “accelerate and expand its initiatives to support cryptocurrencies and digital assets”.
CoinDesk reported for the first time that the acquisition was underway on March 2.
“The acquisition of Curv is part of our effort to invest in talent and technology to realize our vision for a more inclusive financial system,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s vice president and general manager of blockchain, cryptography and digital currencies.
“During our conversations with the Curv team, we were impressed by their technical talent, entrepreneurial spirit and the thinking behind the technology they have developed in recent years. We are excited to welcome the Curv team to PayPal, ”he said.
Curv co-founder and CEO Itay Malinger said: “Now, as digital asset adoption accelerates, we feel that there is no better home than PayPal to continue our innovation journey.”
PayPal said it expects the acquisition agreement to be completed in the first half of 2021.
PayPal, which partnered with Paxos regulated by the state of New York to offer the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies from last October, was known to be looking for an acquisition of encryption custody. The payments giant was in talks to buy BitGo for up to $ 750 million, although the deal failed.
Multiparty computing (MPC) stores like Curv and Fireblocks are missing from cryptoland – the latter is reportedly working on custody cryptography with BNY Mellon.
For example, Curv previously rejected an offer to be acquired by Facebook’s cryptographic arm, Novi, according to a source with knowledge of the business.
Curv has partnered with some notable crypto companies with a European focus, such as eToro and FalconX, suggesting that PayPal is serious about spreading its cryptographic footprint outside the U.S., in addition to offering a wider range of services.
As large banks seek to join or “acquire” in custody matters, the year ahead may be one of more cryptographic mergers and acquisitions by institutional participants.