About
PayPal USD (commonly PYUSD) is a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin designed for digital payments, transfers, and blockchain integration, maintaining a 1:1 value with the U.S. dollar. It was launched by PayPal Holdings, Inc. in August 2023 to bring mainstream adoption of stablecoins to consumers and merchants by bridging traditional payment rails with blockchain networks. The token is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. Treasuries, and similar cash-equivalent assets held in reserve, ensuring that each PYUSD is redeemable for one U.S. dollar.
PYUSD is issued by Paxos Trust Company, a regulated financial institution under the oversight of the New York State Department of Financial Services, which handles custodial functions and reserve management. This regulatory backing and transparency including monthly reserve reporting and independent attestation aim to provide confidence and compliance for payments use cases.
Technically, PYUSD was originally launched as an Ethereum ERC-20 token, making it compatible with wallets, applications, and exchanges in the broader web3 ecosystem. It has since expanded to other blockchains, such as Solana, to support faster and cheaper transactions, enhancing usability for cross-chain and high-volume payment flows.
The stablecoin is deeply integrated into PayPal’s ecosystem: users can buy, hold, send, and redeem PYUSD within PayPal and Venmo apps, transfer it externally to compatible wallets, and potentially use it as a payment method at checkout where supported. Its focus is on reducing friction for payments, remittances, and commerce in both centralized and decentralized contexts, linking traditional fiat economics with blockchain rails for digital commerce.
