PayPal forms interdisciplinary advisory council on blockchain, crypto and digital assets.

The payments company PayPal announced the formation of an interdisciplinary advisory council on blockchain, cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

According to the statement, the body is designed to support the company’s current and future products in the industry.

The company emphasised that cryptocurrencies can provide “expanded access to financial services” and to enable these capabilities it is important to engage with “the world’s leading figures.”

The council includes:

• CEO Fortress Investment Group Peter Briger;
• Professor Chris Brammer at Georgetown University Law Center;
• Professor Shafi Goldwasser of the Weizmann Institute of Science;
• former chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission Timothy Massad;
• Director of the MIT Digital Currency Initiative Nea Narula;
• Professor Antoinette Schoar of MIT Sloan School of Management;

The advisory body is led by PayPal’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Jose Fernandez da Ponte.

In November 2020 the company opened the ability to buy/sell Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies for US users. In April 2021 a similar service launched by PayPal’s mobile payments service Venmo.

It was reported that the company was considering plans to launch its own stablecoin, as well as a crypto wallet.