PayPal is Planning to Launch its Own Stablecoin

PayPal has been expanding its cryptocurrency business since it launched trading to all users in 2020. It allowed US customers to check out with cryptocurrency and increased its crypto buy limit over the past year. The company’s existing support for cryptocurrencies is currently limited to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum.

In later years, the payment giant may also offer a stablecoin of its own. Jose Fernandez da Ponte, SVP of crypto and digital currencies at PayPal, has confirmed to Bloomberg that the online payment provider is “exploring a stablecoin.” He also said that the company will work closely with relevant regulators “if and when [it] seek[s] to move forward.”

A developer named Steve Moser found hidden code and images for a “PayPal Coin” in the company’s app and shared them with Bloomberg.

Based on what he discovered, the PayPal Coin will be backed by the US dollar. It may also feature the PayPal logo with two horizontal slashes across it, though that may change upon the coin’s launch if it does see the light of day.

A spokesperson told the publication that the tidbits Moser unearthed in the app were leftovers from an internal hackathon by the company’s blockchain, crypto and digital currencies division.

A stablecoin differs from other digital currencies in that its value is backed by a specific asset. A cryptocurrency like Bitcoin might be worth about $47,000 one week and roughly $42,000 the next; a stablecoin worth one gram of gold one week will still be worth one gram of gold the next.