Paypal better have something unique to offer to get ahead of the game in my opinion. Does not matter whether you joined the cryptocurrency train, if you are just another platform that offer the same services, time will come for you eventually. I have my hopes on Paypal that they will do something because as OP said, the race is on. You need to use what you can to get ahead of the game.
At least, they already adopted bitcoin in their platform which is uncommon to most of the popular online payments system in the world. But innovation should be their priority and uniqueness so that they can become more advance compared to other platforms. Because for me, engaging in a cryptocurrency is not new because we all know that adoption of bitcoin is really growing nowadays, although it is slow, at least there is a movement and improvement. We just need to wait for more updates regarding Paypal approaching and engaging into a cryptocurrency industry.