How To Send Or Receive Cryptocurrency Using Venmo

Venmo is a well-established way to send money to friends and family quickly and easily. If you've connected a card or bank account to the platform, you can send cash to or receive cash from anyone else who has registered in an instant (relatively). The money can transferred to you bank or be used to make a purchase on sites like Amazon. Because of its simplicity and the lack of fees for most transactions, Venmo is the preferred choice for people who want to send small amounts of money to friends and family. 

Now, Venmo wants to bring that level of convenience to the world of cryptocurrency. Many of its customers already dabble in crypto on the platform since the company introduced the ability to manage your decentralized cash back in 2021. A number of popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and LiteCoin, can now be bought, sold, and stored on the app. Other features include the "Cash Back Crypto" perk for Venmo Credit Card users. This allows them to receive regular cash back in a cryptocurrency of their choice. Price alerts are also available for the cryptocurrencies Venmo offers, which is handy as the virtual money can sometimes prove volatile.

As for transfers, the process isn't complicated — especially if you're shifting crypto between Venmo accounts. It's also possible to send your cryptocurrency to any wallet outside of Venmo, though this is more complex, incurs a fee, and involves more risks.

How to transfer crypto over Venmo

If you have cryptocurrency connected to your Venmo account, transferring it to another Venmo account or a PayPal wallet is about as easy as transferring regular money over the platform. To see your selection of crypto, you need to click the crypto tab on the Venmo app. Once there, select the coin you want to transfer from your list of cryptocurrencies. From there, click the transfer arrow, and then you'll get your transfer option. 

Hitting "Send" allows you to enter an amount and the name of the Venmo account where you want to send the cryptocurrency. Simply fill in the details, click send, and the digital cash should be sent over in an instant. Transfers can also be made to an external wallet or a PayPal user, to do this you'll need to enter the recipient's wallet address. Sending crypto between accounts and wallets in the "Paypal network" (basically Venmo and Paypal) is free of charge. Transferring to a wallet outside this network will incur a fee, and those fees vary.

Clicking "Receive" will bring up a QR code other users can scan to get the address of your Venmo wallet. The QR code allows them to quickly and accurately work out where to send any cryptocurrency they're planning on giving you. Accuracy is very important, as Venmo points out that any transfers that have been started can't be aborted. They can't be reversed either, so if you mistakenly send some to the wrong address, it's gone forever.