PayPal Holdings Inc.’s technology and development spend in Q4 2021 reached $796 million, a 9% year-over-year increase.

The payment company also spent 5% more on tech during the quarter than in Q3, according to its generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) operating expenses released as part of Tuesday’s Q4 earnings call.

The upward tick in technology and development spend is part of a two-year historic trend for the company, said John Rainey, PayPal’s CFO and EVP of global customer operations.

“Over the last two years, we’ve invested nearly $1 billion over and above our historical spend in areas like engineering, technology, marketing and customer support, all of which have generated tremendous returns for us,” Rainey said. “This year, we’re focused on leveraging these investments while continuing to innovate at scale, strengthening our competitive positioning and advancing our leadership in digital payments.”

The San Jose, Calif.-based company reported Q4 revenues of $6.9 billion, a 25% jump YoY. Revenues for 2021 grew 18% YoY to $25.4 billion, President and CEO Dan Schulman said during the call. He also acknowledged that 2021 was a challenging year because of former parent company eBay’s migration to managed payments.

“Overall, eBay put $1.4 billion of pressure on our top line, reducing our revenue growth by 700 basis points,” Schulman said. “In the second half of the year, I look forward to being able to stop adjusting for eBay and letting the strength of our core results speak for themselves.”

Expansion of digital wallet

PayPal logged a 200% increase in first-time users paying bills with its digital wallet in 2021, Rainey said.

“In the U.S., consumer adoption of our digital wallets is several times higher than the next nearest wallet,” he said. “And our merchant acceptance leads all other checkout buttons by an even more sizable margin. By any measure, we are a leader in digital payments.”

PayPal’s digital wallet is accepted by 76% of the 1,500 largest online retailers across North America and Europe, compared with 27% for Apple Pay, 15% for Amazon Pay and 13% for Google Pay, according to the earnings presentation. Affirm, Afterpay and Shop Pay each command less than 10% of digital wallet shares, the company noted.

“The average revenue per active of the digital wallet user is two times that of a checkout-only,” Schulman said.

Meanwhile, the company also saw a 40% increase in first-time users paying with crypto on its platform last year, according to the presentation.

PayPal expanded its checkout capabilities in eight markets for in-store payments with QR codes and buy now pay later (BNPL) loans. BNPL loan run rates grew 325% YoY at $13 billion in Q4, according to the presentation.

Shares of PayPal [NASDAQ: PYPL] were trading at $125.42 as of12:53 p.m., up .90% from market open.