The Company's Operations in Russia have been halted.
PayPal is expanding its services for Ukrainian users and waiving fees to aid humanitarian operations in the country as Russia continues to invade the country. Ukrainians will be able to make and receive peer-to-peer PayPal or Xoom payments, according to a press release, and the company will not charge any fees on either side of the transaction (CNN Business).
PayPal also announced that Ukrainians will be able to transfer funds from their accounts to Mastercard and Visa cards. Citizens who have fled the country will be able to use these services provided they open a PayPal account in Ukraine.
Ukrainians will be able to send and receive funds in US and Canadian dollars, as well as British pounds and Euros, according to the business. (The hryvnia is Ukraine's official currency.)
Prior to the change taking effect on Thursday, PayPal confirmed to The Verge that Ukrainian clients could only send cross-border transfers, not receive them. PayPal didn't say why they couldn't receive money earlier, only that "functionality varies by market" based on "a number of issues," according to the company's representative Tom Hunter. According to a post from PayPal on its efforts in Ukraine, Ukrainian customers were able to receive funds from friends and relatives in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other parts of Europe using PayPal's cash pickup and prepaid mobile phone refill services.
PayPal emphasizes that the improvements, which include the elimination of fees, are only in force for a short time they're now set to end on June 30th, 2022. PayPal said it reserves the right to make modifications as the situation "develops," but will post notices on its website if and when it does.
Mykhailo Fedorov has been aggressively contacting a number of IT businesses, requesting that they assist Ukraine and shut off services to Russia. Before the corporation made the adjustment, he wrote to PayPal and asked them to expand their services in the country, according to a letter he released on Twitter.
Fedorov has also been effective in enlisting the assistance of organizations such as SpaceX: he tweeted Elon Musk, requesting that he supply Ukraine with Starlink satellite internet dishes, and a few days later, he shared a photo of a truck full of the devices.
PayPal halted most of its services in Russia earlier this month, shortly after it ceased accepting new Russian users. (At the time, the business indicated it would "continue working to process customer withdrawals for a period of time.") Russian nationals' access to other financial services, such as Apple and Google Pay, as well as the system that facilitates many foreign money transfers, has been blocked as a result of international sanctions.
