AP
We discussed some of the factors for the melt-up last week, but the surge has managed to occur in the absence of any of the biggest "Web 2.0" guys accepting the digital currency.
That may change sometime in the near future: Appearing on CNBC, eBay President John Donahoe told Andrew Ross Sorkin that while his firm has not set a date, it will have to integrate digital currencies like Bitcoin at some point.
Here's the full transcript:
JOHN DONAHOE: I think there's no doubt digital currency is going to play an important role going forward, and at PayPal, we're going to have to integrate digital currencies into our wallet.
Andrew Ross Sorkin: So handicap it: How quickly do you think we'll see Bitcoin in PayPal?
JD: Oh, I don't know, I can't give a specific time. But I think you'll see Bitcoin used in different use cases, whether it's a peer-to-peer use case, a cross-border transaction, someone's sending currency to someone else, and over time, you'll start to see it with some merchants accepting Bitcoin. And I don't know how big it will get how quickly, but the underlying theme is that a digital currency is something we're aware and something we should be paying attention to.
ARS: Do you own any Bitcoin, personally?
JD: Yes, I do. What do you think it should be worth? For me, I'm not buying it as an investment. I'm buying it to understand how it can be used. I think there are two sides of it, the investment side and the digital currency side. I'm more interested in the digital currency side.
ARS: I don't know if it's a Stockholm Syndrome or what, but everybody that I talk to out here - and you sort of get into it - really does talk about Bitcoin as the next big thing. And they believe it. And they mean it. It is not just some kind of fly-by-night thing they are playing with. They are serious, and very big companies out here, are very, very serious about it.
And here's the clip: