Last week, PayPal minted nearly $27 million worth of PYUSD, its new dollar-pegged stablecoin, on the Ethereum blockchain. PYUSD first launched on Ethereum mainnet about 9 months ago.
PYUSD aims to connect regular and digital currencies for PayPal’s 435 million users. Customers can transfer it between PayPal and other wallets, pay with it online, and exchange it for crypto.
PYUSD maintains a 1:1 peg to the US dollar through reserves held by issuer Paxos. Starting next month, Paxos will publish monthly attestations of these reserves. As with some other centralized stablecoins, PayPal can freeze PYUSD transactions to prevent hacks.
PayPal’s move into crypto boosts the industry’s credibility. It shows real finance, value, and demand. This may lead to more supportive regulations.
However, PYUSD is just another stablecoin. Its key impact is enabling new payments infrastructure and convenience.
The launch makes PayPal part crypto company. It continues finance’s digital upgrade amid the bear market.
The news of PayPal’s stablecoin launch saw Bitcoin prices rise from $28,700 to $29,400. The move underscores crypto’s growing credibility as PayPal embraces digital assets.