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Tuesday 12 december 2017 TECHNOLOGY
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Insider Q&A: PayPal founder talks digital payments, bitcoin

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE ting to a company.
AP Technology Writer Q: What are some of the
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — most interesting areas of
Max Levchin helped intro- digital payments?
duce the masses to the A: A good example is in-
concept of a digital wallet ternational remittances,
when he co-founded Pay- where companies can pop
Pal in the late 1990s. up and do well. They’re the
These days, he’s still try- guys who figured out how
ing to use online services to do it much cheaper and
to reshape the world of fi- much more transparently
nance. He is currently CEO with much lower friction to
of Affirm, a San Francisco both the recipient and the
startup that offers fixed- sender.
payment loans through the Q: Should we be con-
internet. It’s an alternative cerned about hackers
to traditional credit cards, wreaking havoc with our
which can get consumers financial system?
into trouble because small A: We should be worried
minimum payments they broadly about our cyber-
make each month can security preparedness. I
keep them in debt for de- don’t think it’s specific to
cades. payments. It is just generally
Levchin, now 42, recently increasing the cost of do-
connected with The Asso- ing business and reduces
ciated Press to discuss the This photo provided by Affirm shows PayPal co-founder Max Levchin. societal trust. And this is the
state of digital payments, has been cryptocurrency. a conscious decision to go it in the very long term, not first time in history where it’s
computer security and A big “what if” and “when buy a bunch of bitcoin. because I am a stranger to scary. Everything has got a
bitcoin, a cryptocurrency if” has been surrounding I generally don’t speculate. speculative investing. It’s chip. We are going to have
whose value has ranged bitcoin and its ilk. I am very old school in that because I don’t have time to learn how to secure keys
from about $1,000 to more Q: Why so? sense. I try to understand to time the market. So what (secret codes for unlocking
than $19,000 this year as A: The asset generally ap- how value is traded and I end up doing is commit- digital files and services).q
investors have bet on its preciated at such a blis- what is going to happen to ting to a stock or commit-
future prospects. The inter- tering pace. Any time you
on to it? Because you just Soon you can watch the NFL
view has been edited for acquire it, why not hang
length and clarity.
Q: Are digital payments don’t want to spend it yet.
of transaction tool that is free on your phone on Yahoo
progressing as quickly as On the whole, it’s a kind
you hoped since you start-
ed PayPal? locked into areas where
A: They are moving at a credit and cash don’t re- playoffs. Games will stream
good pace, adjusted for ally service the purpose. on the Yahoo Sports app;
just how large and com- So you wind up finding it in Yahoo.com on mobile
plicated the market is. somewhat darker corners. (but not Yahoo.com on
It’s highly regulated and Q: Do you invest in bitcoin? computers); Verizon’s little-
there are a lot of things to A: I wound up with a lot of known video app, go90;
be careful about. The el- bitcoin as an early inves- and the NFL mobile app.
ephant in the room for the tor in one of the early bit- Verizon bought Yahoo in
last seven or eight years coin startups. But it wasn’t June and AOL in 2015 and
wants to combine the two
to build a digital ad business
to rival Facebook and
Google. It hopes adding
more sports streaming will
help grow the audience for
its media business. “Sports
In this Dec. 15, 2016, file photo, the Yahoo logo appears on a is the first major pillar in
smartphone in Frankfurt, Germany. Verizon’s strategy. The
Associated Press
NFL is a marquee piece of
By TALI ARBEL online-TV services like Sling content,” Angiolet said.
AP Technology Writer or YouTube TV will have Verizon will be able to sell
NEW YORK (AP) — more problems. An NFL some digital ads during
Watching NFL football game on ESPN will still be games.
games on your phone blocked on the app on a The NFL has had a
used to be mainly limited phone — and starting next partnership with Verizon
to Verizon customers. Soon season, on tablets as well, since 2010 and has been
anyone will be able to for some games, said Brian experimenting with other
watch football games on Angiolet, Verizon’s global ways to televise its games
the go for free on Yahoo’s chief media and content besides broadcast and
app, now that Verizon officer. cable TV. Amazon this
owns Yahoo. Verizon’s five-year deal year has 10 Thursday night
But people who want to with the NFL takes effect games and a Christmas
watch football through in January, in time for game.q