This is interesting. This is likely very positive. I do not *think* they would be doing this if they were not bought into the ecosystem philosophically. In other words if Bitcoin is just a precursor to PalCoin that's one thing... and I do not doubt PalCoin is likely.
I think this smells. They have known about Bitcoin and other crypto companies since 2012/2013. They could have bought any number of them then for cheap, and enabled crypto payments a long time ago.
So why now?
The likely culprit is that their profits are falling, and they're looking for another way to lock in users into their payment services platform. And also to scoop 0.5% on every crypto buy/sell. It is all greed driven, that is all. Absolutely nothing altruistic about it.
I CERTAINLY do not think PP's motivations are altruistic in any way.
But this continues to make my point. Bitcoin does not care if you are altruistic or you are bastard. And it will crush you if you stand in it's way. Over and over that has happened. And I expect we will watch companies that try to game it, or own it, or overcome it, or break it be destroyed by it. Possibly PP.
But I would think they can work any greed angle that aligns with the network. Bitcoin does not care.