PayPal said Monday it has agreed to acquire Israel-based Curv, a provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital asset security.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, 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 first reported that the acquisition was in progress on March 2.
“The acquisition of Curv is part of our effort to invest in the 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, crypto and digital currencies.
“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,” he said.
Curv co-founder and CEO Itay Malinger said, “Now, as the adoption of digital assets accelerates, we feel there’s no better home than PayPal to continue our journey of innovation.”
PayPal said it expects the acquisition deal to be completed in the first half of 2021.
PayPal's crypto push
PayPal, which partnered with New York state-regulated Paxos to offer buying and selling of cryptocurrency starting last October, was known to be on the hunt for a crypto custody acquisition. The payments giant was reported to have been in talks to buy BitGo for as much as $750 million, though the deal fell through.
Multi-party computation (MPC) shops like Curv and Fireblocks are in short supply in cryptoland – the latter is reportedly working on crypto custody with BNY Mellon.
For instance, Curv previously rebuffed an offer to be acquired by Facebook’s crypto arm, Novi, according to a source with knowledge of that deal.
Curv is partnered with some notable crypto firms focused on Europe such as eToro and FalconX, suggesting PayPal is serious about spreading its crypto footprint outside the U.S., as well as offering a broader range of services.
As big banks look to partner up or “acqui-hire” on the custody front, the year ahead could see more crypto M&A from institutional players.