Enterprise

PayPal and Venmo will now accept cryptocurrencies

Good news for Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum

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PayPal has announced it’ll let users transact via cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and more. Now users can buy, hold, and pay using cryptocurrencies on the online wallet and payments platform.

Using its leverage across tens of millions of merchants, PayPal can help bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as a viable payment method. PayPal has almost 350 million users worldwide along with 26 million merchants.

PayPal owned Venmo will also let users make peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions and a general rollout is scheduled for the first half of 2021. Following the announcement, the value of Bitcoin surged by 5 percent on the same day.

The company says it’ll initially support Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Behind the scenes, Paxos will handle the trading as well as custody. For users, the biggest benefit will be they can store their cryptocurrency with PayPal and won’t have to go through real time exchange before each payment.

All cryptocurrencies will be first converted to fiat currency (like US$) at the time of settlement. Access to the service will be available in the coming weeks. However, users won’t be able to pay until early 2021.

PayPal isn’t the first major company to adopt crypto payments. Mobile payments provider Square as well as trading service Robinhood Markets already support cryptocurrencies. But PayPal’s reach is considered to be massive, having a ripple effect on the whole industry.

In the second quarter, PayPal processed payments worth a whopping US$ 222 billion. Hence it’s adoption of cryptocurrency goes a long way in supporting the niche industry.

Bitcoin and many other virtual currencies have been around for a long time, but exposure to retail customers for general payments has been close to zero. These currencies are extremely volatile, making them perfect for traders and short-term investors. Although their inherent benefits are yet to reach the average Joe.

With one of the world’s largest fintech institution opening doors for virtual coins, the future looks optimistic for increased adoption.

Read Also: Basics of cryptocurrency: Risks and benefits

Apps

foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

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In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.

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Enterprise

Global Connect Show Shenzhen empowers Chinese enterprises

Opportune time for new Chinese enterprises to go global

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The Global Connect Show Shenzhen 2026 (GCS SZ 2026) was successfully held on June 1 at China’s innovation hub.

More than 100 Chinese enterprises joined the event, encouraged to expand into international markets.

The program focused on three core pillars:

  • Chinese brand going global
  • Global channel connection
  • Dedicated “Into the Enterprise” series

China has developed a new generation of internationally competitive companies across various sectors, including:

  • consumer electronics
  • smart hardware
  • artificial intelligence
  • robotics

As these companies enter a new phase of going global, demand is growing for global communications, brand building, market trust, and localized business networks.

As such, the Global Connect Show is one of the platforms to be able to strengthen the relationship across enterprises, partners, business associations, and even media and influencers.

It is a significant window for innovative brands to enter global retail channels by building compelling brand narratives and developing strong localized operations.

This year’s GCS is the third staging of the show, which consistently aims to match Chinese brands with partners through a results-first approach. Such an approach includes hands-on product experiences, presentations, and one-on-one meetings.

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Enterprise

New US-China ban might affect 75% of phones, laptops

Companies can no longer use Chinese labs to test their products.

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The United States is continuing its crusade against Chinese technology today. However, the target now isn’t a company from China but a method important to a lot of non-Chinese brands.

Today, via Reuters, the Federal Communications Commission (or FCC) has unanimously voted to prohibit companies from using Chinese labs to test their electronic devices if they are to be sold for use in the United States. Naturally, this includes smartphones and computers.

Notably, the prohibition doesn’t directly target Chinese brands. However, it will still affect a huge swath of the industry. The FCC estimates that around 75 percent of the entire market are devices tested in labs based in China.

This means that companies who wish to sell future products in the country must move their testing to labs in the United States or other countries that it deems secure. At its current iteration, the prohibition will not affect devices that already earned their certification prior. However, it might prevent them from getting recertified once their current one expires.

Now, the prohibition isn’t an absolute lock just yet. The FCC will allow the industry to submit comments about the proposal. But, with a unanimous vote from the FCC, companies might have to start looking for alternative testing sites if they want to stay operation in the United States.

SEE ALSO: TikTok finally gets a buyer in the United States

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