The news marks a significant milestone for the company, which was bought by eBay in July 2002 for $1.5 billion. PayPal says its 100 million accounts stretch across 55 countries, and that the service processed some $27 billion in volume in 2005.

PayPal began its service in 1999 and enjoyed 12,000 accounts at the end of that year.

We’ve spent the last seven years building a very safe, easy and convenient way to pay online. Our customers prefer to use PayPal because privacy is built right into the service – they can shop online without sharing their financial information with sellers, said Jeff Jordan, president of PayPal.