Dive Brief:

• EBay Inc. is in the midst of working on an agreement that would have its PayPal unit Braintree, which processes mobile and online payments for several companies, to accept bitcoin, sources have told the Wall Street Journal.

• Any such agreement would apply only to Braintree, which processes payments for the likes of Uber, OpenTable, Fab, and Airbnb, and not to eBay or PayPal.  However, eBay CEO John Donahoe has previously said that PayPal is “activity considering” accepting bitcoin.

• PayPal acquired Braintree late last year for $800 million. At that time the company expected to process $12 billion in payments in various currencies. 

Dive Insight:

This report comes the same week that the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a government consumer protection agency, released an advisory cautioning consumers about the risks of using bitcoin. These days Bitcoin is buffeted by increased scrutiny and regulations on one hand, and acceptance by more major retailers and other companies on the other. Both in the end may help further its acceptance.