Crypto Biz: PayPal rolls out crypto ramps, Franklin Templeton joins BTC ETF race, and more

cointelegraph.com:

Without aggressive marketing tactics, fintech giant PayPal is quietly and consistently venturing deeper into the crypto space, rolling out features and building key partnerships to advance its digital assets strategy.

This week, PayPal unveiled new on-ramps and off-ramps for cryptocurrencies for its clients in the United States — a noteworthy step for the country, particularly as many crypto firms struggle with supporting fiat-crypto conversions since the United States Securities and Exchange Commission began its controversial crackdown on the industry.

Also deepening ties with the crypto ecosystem is the traditional asset manager firm Franklin Templeton. The company filed for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S., joining a long list of major investment firms seeking approval for a Bitcoin investment product, including names such as BlackRock, Fidelity and WisdomTree, among many others.

With new participants joining the digital assets world daily, it’s evident that crypto is becoming more mainstream, even in the face of a long bearish market.

This week’s Crypto Biz looks at PayPal’s crypto gateway, Franklin Templeton’s BTC ETF filing, Coinbase’s Lightning Network integration, and Meta’s plans for a new AI model.

PayPal continues expanding its digital asset services, integrating new methods to sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The payments giant introduced on Sept. 11 new on- and off-ramps for Web3 payments, allowing users in the U.S. to convert their crypto to U.S. dollars directly from their wallets into their PayPal balance. The off-ramp feature is available to wallets, decentralized applications and nonfungible token marketplaces and is live on MetaMask. The latest rollout came shortly after