PayPal appear to be about to launch crypto services within the UK.  This could go a long way to increase public adoption of crypto here; although the UK is ahead of many other countries, it is still only a small percentage of the public who hold any altcoins or tokens.

The page on PayPal's site is at: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/crypto

I'll be honest, I have mixed feelings about this. It has a mix of good and bad points, and I think it is fair to recognise both.

Negative Points

As a business, PayPal are arch-centralisers and in typical tech-giant fashion love to hoover up people's data.

If they treat it in the same way as they do foreign currency transactions, the fees are likely to be high and the exchange rates eye-wateringly unfavourable. 

PayPal can on occasion be quite arbitrary in their policies and rules, so more than ever, any crypto they hold for you would be at risk of the "not your keys, not your crypto" problem.

Neutral Points & Missing Information

It is still showing as "coming soon", but no date is attached to it.

Probably the bit I am most interested in; there is no information so far on whether it will integrate with website checkouts so that customers can pay with crypto, and if so, what the charges will be, and whether PayPal will retain that crypto in it's original form or automatically convert it to fiat (and if so, at what exchange rate).

There is no clear information about whether they will allow withdrawal to external wallets. It would suck if they only allowed withdrawal by converting to fiat first.

Good Points

PayPal are initially opening up to 4 crypto currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. This doesn't put them fully into the territory of being an exchange but it's a good start. In some ways, I actually think focusing on a limited selection of coins might be a good thing, because I believe one of the issues holding crypto back from wider adoption as a payment medium is too much choice and the blurring of lines between the three roles (medium of exchange, store of value, and enabler for blockchain use cases).

PayPal are making clear they'll include educational resources and their webpage is full of warnings about the volatility and risks of cryptocurrencies. While that may be old news to people who have been in the crypto sphere for a while, their offering is clearly aimed at newbies, so it is great that they are doing this. They even include a line saying "We recommend doing your research and consider the risks before buying, holding and selling" - excellent !

PayPal generally make their interfaces very user-friendly. Crypto is a space where technically savvy people appear to delight in complexity, to the extent where it can look like a way of gatekeeping that deters new users. Simplification where possible to increase accessibility (together with appropriate warnings) can only be good in increasing adoption rates.

Conclusion

While PayPal are not a company I'm in love with, they have a lot of brand recognition and tend to do things in a technically competent manner. The true test will be whether it is possible to get crypto away from their platform into private wallets. All in all, I think that this is going to be a gateway for increased crypto adoption in the UK, especially if it allows websites to have a smooth integration to take crypto payments, which can only be a good thing. 

Edit to add

I just spoke to a very pleasant person at PayPal, who has advised that UK launch date is tomorrow, 25th August. Initially, it's just buy/sell/hodl, and she didn't think there was a way at this stage to withdraw to personal wallets. Initially, launch is personal accounts only, not business ones. I gave feedback that adoption would be improved if businesses could take payments in crypto, and there was a way to use it to send payments to external wallets (either your own or someone else's).