Is Paypal support for bitcoin coming soon?

Last week, we discussed how the online payment platform created an opportunity for digital currency wallet developers when it announced that it will soon stop supporting select mobile operating platforms such as Windows Phone, Amazon and Blackberry.

Well, that story was apparently just the tip of the iceberg.

Reports recently surfaced that Paypal has applied to patent a modular payment device that accepts digital currencies.

The application, which can be seen on the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office website, described the device as having a chassis that contains a payment module database, which, in turn, stores information about funding source and security.

The payment module determines that the identifying information in the device “matches an authorized modular device identified by the security information in the payment module database.” Once confirmed, the module will enable the transmission of “at least some of the funding source information from the payment module database to conduct a payment transaction.”

Paypal’s proposed system will involve several virtual currency cards that corresponds to a specific wallet, which stores at least one private key that enables it to transfer the digital currency associated with one of more public addresses. The patent application already describes how the online payment company currently manages digital currencies including bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin.

The application will enable a possible digital currency integration for Paypal, a plan that the company has been hinting at for some time already.

The online payment platform submitted a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission back in 2014, in which it noted that its merchants could start—at that time—accepting bitcoins via its partnership with Braintree. Merchants could use customizable APIs that can be found in the Paypal Payment’s Hub to integrate bitcoin into their shops for digital products.

Bitcoin’s price stretched to a high $535 on Wednesday morning, with 13.47 million bitcoins in available supply.