For years Ukraine asked PayPal to start working without restrictions. Considering the war in Ukraine and the expedited digital diplomacy of the government, the service opened its doors to Ukrainian users.

From the 17th of March 2022, PayPal allowed the payments for private persons and canceled the commissions.

What benefits Ukrainian users will acquire and what does it mean in practice?

On 8th March, Mikhailo Fedorov (the minister of digital transformation of Ukraine) posted a twit on his official page in Twitter:

From the 5th of March 2022, PayPal joined the sanctions with numerous financial and technological companies against Russia because of its invasion to Ukraine.

“Russians must draw their funds from the accounts” – PayPal.

On the 17th of March, the users of Twitter saw a new post on the official PayPal page which closed all rumors and questions:

What opportunities does PayPal provide to Ukrainians?

• Open transactions P2P for sending and receiving payments from friends and relatives of the Ukrainian users of PayPal and Xoom;
• Temporary cancelation of the commissions for clients who send and receive funds on such accounts;
• Possibility of withdrawing the money from PayPal to debit and credit cards Mastercard and Visa issued by Ukrainian banks;
• Open the access to all mentioned opportunities for Ukrainians who left the country as refugees, if they register Ukrainian PayPal wallets.

Read full on PayPal Newsroom 

It means that users from all over the world are able to send help without formalities. And Ukrainians can withdraw the funds from PayPal to the cards of the local banks. First of all, this help is for refugees from Ukraine because their friends, relatives, and organizations can send material help. Also, it is done for private volunteers organizations and private persons who want to help Ukrainians who stayed in the war territory.

“ PayPal clients already donated more than $250 million to the international charity organizations which provide help for Ukraine and refugees”.

Forbes.ua

Note, that service was available in Ukraine before but in a limited “Send only” mode: you can deposit, receive, and spend funds. But it was unavailable to withdraw the funds to a Ukrainian card.

“We believe that service will be handy for the Ukrainians” – CEO PayPal Dan Shulman.

How and for whom will PayPal work in Ukraine?

PayPal for private persons.

The company itself declares that the new opportunities will let Ukrainians safely send money to friends and family. That’s why it updated the allowances for p2p-payments. It is possible now to transfer money from your PayPal wallet to Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Ukrainian banks. All transactions can be executed in dollars, euros, and pounds. The amount is converted automatically during the withdrawal. For example, a dollars transaction to a Ukrainian card will be received in hryvnias.

PayPal for business.

There is no information about PayPal business accounts in Ukraine in 2022.

Interesting facts about PayPal.

The main “secrets” of PayPal’s fintech revolution were the simplicity and safety of online international transactions. No bureaucracy, receipts, and difficult registrations. 

Interesting facts:

• The first PayPal name was Confinity (1998). It was planned as a software creator for the pocket computers.
• It has been bought by eBay for 1,5 billion dollars.
• Elon Musk and Reid Hoffman were involved in the startup.
• In 2019, PayPal committed 12,4 billions transactions. 
• 7 million companies all over the world accept payments via PayPal.
• PayPal is used by more than 90% of online buyers in Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain. And only 35% of users are in the Czech and Ukraine.
• 650 airline companies sell tickets on their international and internal flights via PayPal.
• In the spring and summer of 2000, PayPal paid $20 for each new user. The company has grown by 10% every day and the count of new users increased from 1 to 5 million.
• 89% of online buyers in the world use PayPal but only citizens of 97 countries may use it only for shopping purposes and sending money and not for withdrawal.
• In 2021 PayPal had chosen a new strategy – stimulating and involving new clients.

And this strategy works. Ukrainians will become active users.