Ebay mobile payments unit in talks with Coinbase for bitcoin integration

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Consumers may soon be able to pay for their Airbnb rentals or Uber car rides using bitcoin.

EBay Inc. has been quietly working to integrate acceptance of the virtual currency into its Braintree payments subsidiary, part of its PayPal unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Those people said PayPal officials have meet in recent weeks with several companies that facilitate bitcoin transactions, including Coinbase Inc. PayPal has yet to reach any agreements, the people said. The timing of when Braintree would accept bitcoin is dependent in part on such a deal.

Braintree provides software for payments processing to many online and mobile companies like Uber and Airbnb.

EBay and PayPal wouldn't initially accept bitcoin, the people familiar with the matter said, but that could change over time. EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe told The Wall Street Journal last year that he was considering ways to use bitcoin.

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