Blockchain Bites: PayPal's Play, Mode's Bitcoin Buy, CoinDesk's Most Influential Needs Your Vote

PayPal's playPayPal will be offering trading and transaction of bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether and litecoin in the next few weeks to its 346 million customers and 26 million merchants through a partnership with Paxos Trust Company, although for some users, the features are already available.

Others take umbrage that the payments firm will not initially allow users to transfer crypto outside of the PayPal network.

"You own the cryptocurrency you buy on PayPal but will not be provided with a private key," the company wrote in a help post.

Another allocationMode Global Holdings, a London Stock Exchange-listed company, has announced plans to make a "Significant purchase" of bitcoin as part of its treasury investment strategy.

The fintech group said it will convert up to 10% of its cash reserves into the cryptocurrency as part of a long-term strategy to "Protect investors' assets from currency debasement." "Faced with the challenges of COVID-19 and with U.K. interest rates at the lowest level in the Bank of England's 326-year history, our confidence in the long-term value of bitcoin has only increased," said Jonathan Rowland, Mode's executive chairman.

Future bulls?Bitcoin futures traders are significantly less bullish as bitcoin traded past $12,000 Tuesday compared to when bitcoin reached the same level nearly two months ago.

When bitcoin traded near $12,000 throughout August, finally reaching the key level mid-month, funding rates for perpetual futures turned acutely positive across leading derivative exchanges, reflecting the market's bullishness.

As bitcoin revisited $12,000 Tuesday funding rates reacted differently, staying flat or turning negative, indicating a lack of the same bullishness two months ago.

Every year, CoinDesk recognizes the "Most Influential" people working to expand cryptocurrency and blockchain's reach.

In 2019, Ted Livingston, Kik CEO, was named Most Influential for his determination to bring the fight to court, potentially creating a precedent for how token sales might be treated under U.S. securities law.