PayPal has just taken its very first baby step towards allowing Bitcoin payments for goods, thanks to a partnership with payment processors BitPay, Coinbase and GoCoin. PayPal’s move isn’t a wholesale endorsement of the crypto-currency: by partnering with existing Bitcoin payment processors, PayPal doesn’t actually have to handle (or hold onto) any Bitcoin itself, which basically makes this a risk-free move on PayPal’s part.
Retailers in North America will have access to the payment option first, although it will be limited to ‘digital goods merchants’ — basically, nothing you can actually physically hold — for the time being. [PayPal]