Venmo to let users buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency in its app

Venmo announced Tuesday that it will let users buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly in its app as digital currency goes more mainstream.

The feature, rolling out starting Tuesday, will be available to the company's 70 million customers within the next few weeks. The cryptocurrency offerings include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.

The company said users can start buying cryptocurrencies with as little as $1.

Darrell Esch, the company's senior vice president and general manager, said the feature "is a new way for the Venmo community to start exploring the world of crypto, within the Venmo environment they trust and rely on as a key component of their everyday financial lives."

"Our goal is to provide our customers with an easy-to-use platform that simplifies the process of buying and selling cryptocurrencies and demystifies some of the common questions and misconceptions that consumers may have," Esch added in a statement.

In addition to conducting business with digital currencies, the Venmo feature will also provide users with cryptocurrency trends as well as educational videos and other resources. Users can also choose to "share their crypto journey" with their friends on the Venmo feed, the company said.

Venmo said that within its 2020 customer research, it found that more than 30% of Venmo customers have already started purchasing crypto or equities. It also found that some 20% of those people started this during the pandemic.

Venmo's announcement comes just weeks after its parent company, PayPal, announced that it was allowing customers to check out online using cryptocurrencies.

It also comes a few weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his electric vehicle company was now accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment, providing a major boost to the cryptocurrency's push for widespread acceptance.

Meanwhile, some of the most popular cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum have skyrocketed in value over the past calendar year. On Tuesday, Bitcoin was trading at around $55,600 and Ethereum at approximately $2,260.