PayPal’s PYUSD: The New Sheriff in Stablecoin Town?

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PayPal Holdings, with all the subtlety of a rhinoceros in a china shop, has announced its grand plan to integrate its PYUSD stablecoin into more products this year, 2025. The goal? To give the dominant Tether (USDT) a run for its money. With a global network of 20 million merchants at its disposal, PayPal is poised to give its stablecoin the kind of boost that would make even the most optimistic crypto enthusiast do a double-take. 🚀

PayPal to Integrate PYUSD Stablecoin for Merchant Bill Payments

The payments giant, never one to do things by halves, has declared that it will offer its PYUSD stablecoin to more than 20 million small-to-medium-sized merchants. By the end of 2025, vendors can expect to be paid through PayPal’s upcoming bill-pay product. Like Tether’s USDT, PYUSD is pegged to the Dollar in a 1:1 ratio, which is reassuring for those who prefer their digital currencies to be, well, stable. 🎉

Michelle Gill, general manager of PayPal’s small business and financial services group, has grand ambitions. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, she said:

“A lot of the payments we’re expecting are going to be cross-border because merchants in the US are seeking to pay vendors and suppliers abroad. The thesis was: Can we facilitate that on PYUSD rails so as not to have the currency conversion, the friction, as well as time?”

Leveraging Its Hyperwallet Acquisition

Last year, in 2024, PayPal completed its first business transaction using its native stablecoin, PYUSD. Now, the firm plans to use this USD-pegged stablecoin through Hyperwallet, a platform that helps freelancers and contractors send mass payments globally. PayPal, which acquired Hyperwallet back in 2018 for a cool $400 million, aims to have PYUSD payouts live in the first half of this year. By the end of 2025, the platform will allow merchants to settle PayPal checkout transactions in digital assets. PayPal CEO Alex Chriss had this to say:

“We’ve been talking about blockchains for like a decade now — the concept of these things never becomes real until you actually can start to spend it. And I think that’s what we’re enabling.”

Stablecoin Market Competition Heating Up

The stablecoin market is heating up faster than a soufflé in a hot oven. Top players are jockeying for position amid growing regulatory clarity. Tether (USDT) had to exit the European market due to compliance issues after the implementation of the MiCA rules, but it’s finding new roles in crypto-friendly markets like El Salvador. 🌞

Circle’s USDC, on the other hand, has nearly doubled its market presence over the last year, thanks to the Solana meme coin frenzy. USDC is not only MiCA compliant but has also secured approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). Blockchain startup Ripple is also pushing its RLUSD into the market, raising the competition bar even higher. With a supply of 120 million, the stablecoin has already launched on the Ethereum and XRPL (XRP Ledger) networks.

Benjamin Cowen, the head of research at Into The Cryptoverse, shared the stablecoin supply ratio oscillator (SSRO), which has now dropped under the 0 levels, hinting that Bitcoin (BTC) might unveil its potential moving ahead from here. 📈

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2025-02-26 09:53