Payments platform PayPal has up to now avoided Bitcoin acceptance and, a minimum of visibly, not considered blockchain for its platform. Now, it's launched an inside blockchain-based worker incentive program.

A production of PayPal’s innovation research lab, in San Jose, California, the platform took 25 robust team six-months to create and went live this November, according to reports by cheddar and the lab’s director of innovation Michael Todasco. He says the platform is a:

“Venmo-like feed individuals will like and comment on and see all the activity happening within PayPal related to innovation.”

PayPal’s new blockchain platform rewards workers in crypto-tokens, but they only have worth inside of PayPal and the platform. Staff can earn tokens by joining innovation programs and contributing concepts, they can also trade tokens. The token transactions will be recorded on the platform’s blockchain ledger and may be redeemed for over different one hundred rewards, or experiences. These vary from poker tournaments with PayPal vice presidents, a morning of martial arts with PayPal CEO Dan Schulman to borrowing the dog of the head of the investor relations.

Will This Lead To Future Blockchain Developments for PayPal?

The innovation lab at PayPal works predominantly on prototypes. It studied voice technology a while ago and currently voice projects are currently a part of PayPal’s development. This could mean the internal worker platform is way for PayPal to trial a blockchain-based system it theoretically could launch to either a wider internal audience or as an external service. That’s not been confirmed by PayPal, with Todasco only telling news outlet cheddar that the lab will work with new platforms to eventually roll them out into the business. And, only if they're successful and there's a business case to do so.

In May 2018, PayPal cfo John Rainey said Bitcoin was too volatile for its merchants, illustrating the stance of PayPal towards the cryptocurrency industry. Rainey did qualify that with saying that if merchant demand increased PayPal might revise its policy on Bitcoin.

There still could be more occurring internally at PayPal than meets the attention, it did file a patent that was disclosed early this year for a system to enhance the speed of cryptocurrency payments. Patents don’t forever lead to real developments, however.

It might be time for PayPal to deliver something new to the market, the PayPal app was simply overtaken on Google Play Store by Square’s cash App. The square app will provide bitcoin trading services and currently holds the number one spot in the finance application class in the U.S region of the store.