Can't send crypto

[dshannon21]

s it even possible to send crypto to an external wallet, I only get a very general error from paypal even thou i have bitcoin, have a valid bitcoin address to send to, have verified my personal info. Only get some general error message like "cannot do this transaction at this time" what a joke! I;m very experienced and am doing this all correctly and its obvious its a problem within paypal. So all said and done i got ripped off for fees having to sell my bitcoin back to cash and just use my current exchange. Utterly zero help from paypal and zero knowledge from customer service, that means zero chance that you have my business going forward. Thanx for no help with your services

[CRYPTO2024]

I get the same error message when I try to send crypto to an external wallet.
The error is very generic and vague: "Something went wrong"

However, the browser log reveals more information that can help with this mysterious error.

Technical information

For every crypto transfer, PayPal sends the information to this API endpoint via a POST call:

https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/crypto/api/currencies/evaluate-trade

The response to this request is interesting.
The API responds with "422 Unprocessable Content", and in the response body, we see more information. Here are some parts of the response:

{...
"name": "UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY",
"message": "The requested action could not be performed, semantically incorrect, or failed business validation.",
"debug_id": "f830306fe2e48",
"details": [{
  "issue": "INTERNAL_DECLINE",
  "description": "Internal Decline."
}]
...}

Since there are no semantic issues with the request (as it works sometimes), the message could mean that they have internally decided to decline the transaction because it has failed the so-called "business validation". What these business validations are, I don't know, but it doesn't sound like a technical or engineering issue. 
I have asked PayPal customer support for an explanation and received no response so far. I will update this and other social media if/when I hear back from PayPal.

See for yourself

if you are interested, you can see this exact error message.

Using Chrome, open the page for transferring crypto as usual. Then, open the browser DevTools and click on the "Network" tab. Continue with your transfer and see if you encounter any of the following errors:

    "There's a problem. Right now, we're not able to complete this transaction."  Or,
    "Something went wrong"
If so, look for a red network call in the list of calls named "evaluate-trade" and click on it. You will see all the details. 
(Check out the screenshot below)

I expect PayPal to provide clarity on this issue since this has been going on for a while.

[CRYPTO2024]

I get the same error message when I try to send crypto to an external wallet.
The error is very generic and vague: "Something went wrong"

However, the browser log reveals more information that can help with this mysterious error.

Technical information

For every crypto transfer, PayPal sends the information to this API endpoint via a POST call:

https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/crypto/api/currencies/evaluate-trade

The response to this request is interesting.
The API responds with "422 Unprocessable Content," and in the response body, we see more information. Here are some parts of the response:

{...
"name": "UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY",
"message": "The requested action could not be performed, semantically incorrect, or failed business validation.",
"debug_id": "f830306fe2e48",
"details": [{
"issue": "INTERNAL_DECLINE",
"description": "Internal Decline."
}
]
...}

Since there are no semantic issues with the request (as it works sometimes), the message could mean that they have internally decided to decline the transaction because it has failed the so-called "business validation". What these business validations are, I don't know, but it doesn't sound like a technical or engineering issue. 
I have asked PayPal customer support for an explanation and received no response so far. I will update this and other social media if/when I hear back from PayPal.

See for yourself

if you are interested, you can see this exact error message.

Using Chrome, open the page for transferring crypto as usual. Then, open the browser DevTools and click on the "Network" tab. Continue with your transfer and see if you encounter any of the following errors:

"There's a problem. Right now, we're not able to complete this transaction."  Or,
"Something went wrong"
If so, look for a red network call in the list of calls named "evaluate-trade" and click on it. You will see all the details. 
(Check out the screenshot below)

I expect PayPal to provide clarity on this issue since this has been going on for a while.

[njeffcoat]

I was having the same issue. I bought ~$1300 in btc via paypal crypto. and was getting and "there was a problem" / "there was a technical error" error, when i tried to send all of it to a btc account. after getting frustrated and not hearing back from support i went back in and on a hunch i tried pushing it all in smaller amounts. and foud that if you do batches of $200 or less you can send howevermuch you want all at once.

[CrossoverX]

You realize how ridiculous it is paying fees over and over?

[HFA_28]

To send crypto to an external wallet, simply copy and paste the wallet's address you want to send to on the search field.  You can also watch this YT video which was very helpful: [Removed]

I have to say that PayPal made the process a lot more confusing than it really should be.

[mfysher]

What a garbage service PayPal has turned out to be. After trying for over a month to send my crypto to my personal wallet, I still get the same error message each time. It doesn't matter if I try to send it all or send a little (which would eat me to death with fees). No offered solution works, and their message service says that all agents are offline because it's outside of business hours... at 10am EST.

PayPal *cannot* be trusted with any assets, and doesn't have the support services available to provide any meaningful help.

[CRYPTO2024]

We should send the story to news media. The world must be aware of what PayPal is doing.

[livefreebus]

March 6th 2024 still not resolved!  I bought 3x $20 worth of ETH because it kept saying I didn't have enough to send. I think $60 should be more than enough to send. I tried sending 85% of it instead of all and still getting an error. seems like what everyone has been saying is true. they tricked me into buying more crypto and keeping my money hostage. it's stuck there in paypal. I can not transfer it out. and they have the nerve to post a lame generic useless link as a resolution. pfft!

[Narcyz]

Just weighing in, I was trying to do a fairly large crypto buy/transfer through PayPal. I did the deposit, it fully posted/cleared in my bank the next day, but I had to wait five days before the message on PayPal would go away stating that I needed to wait 3-5 days and to check back later. Once that error was gone, I attempted to transfer the PYUSD to both a MetaMask wallet and my Coinbase account, and was just presented with a generic error stating I needed to try again later. I tried three days in a row with no success, both with the full purchase amount and a small amount. I attempted two chat sessions which didn't get me anywhere. I finally called and the support person said they can't do anything about it, the system is fully automated, and they have no overrides, and my best bet was to try again after 24hr. I was not using anything like a VPN, connection was from my home internet, and tried on both my desktop and phone with no success. In the end I had to just sell the PYUSD back and transfer to my bank account (up to another 3 day wait based on the message I just received). I should have just stuck to Coinbase and will do that in the future, and I urge everyone to avoid crypto on PayPal. They are not ready to support it.

[Temp20240313A]

Also having this issue. I purchased a fairly large amount of ETH (5.8) and now can’t send it to my external wallet. I managed to send 0.9 yesterday through 4 smaller transfers but am charged network fees each time. Called customer service they advised I could sell the crypto and use another exchange but they won’t refund the fees I paid. I have a lot of money that I need to use to pay for a transaction that is stranded of paypal now because of this, and it is starting to cost me. Has anyone contacted a consumer rights advocate group or attorney about this? I am interested in joining a class action lawsuit if there is one.