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What Is PayPal USD?

PayPal USD (ticker PYUSD) is a US dollar stablecoin issued by Paxos Trust Company on behalf of PayPal. Launched on August 7, 2023, it was the first stablecoin issued by a major US financial company. Each PYUSD is redeemable 1:1 for US dollars and is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US Treasuries, and cash equivalents.

PYUSD's defining feature is regulated issuance combined with mainstream distribution. Paxos issued the token under New York Department of Financial Services oversight from launch, and in December 2025 Paxos converted to a federally regulated national trust charter, so PYUSD is now issued under Office of the Comptroller of the Currency supervision. Paxos publishes monthly reserve reports with independent attestations, conducted by KPMG since early 2025. The SEC opened an inquiry into PYUSD in November 2023 and closed it in February 2025 without any enforcement action.

The token launched as an ERC-20 on Ethereum and has expanded steadily: Solana in May 2024, Arbitrum in July 2025, Stellar in September 2025, and native issuance on Polygon in July 2026. In September 2025 PayPal also launched PYUSD0, an omnichain version built with LayerZero that extends PYUSD to chains including Aptos, Avalanche, Tron, Sei, and Ink, fully fungible and redeemable 1:1 with native PYUSD.

What separates PYUSD from most stablecoins is its integration into PayPal and Venmo. Users can buy, sell, hold, and send PYUSD with zero fees inside the apps, spend it at millions of US merchants through PayPal checkout, and transfer it to external wallets. In March 2026 PayPal expanded PYUSD availability to users in roughly 70 markets worldwide. PayPal also runs a rewards program that pays holders a variable annual rate (around 4 percent as of mid-2026) in monthly PYUSD payouts for balances held in PayPal or Venmo.

PYUSD's circulating supply peaked above 4 billion dollars in March 2026 and stood at roughly 2.9 billion dollars as of mid-2026, ranking it among the largest stablecoins. An expanded partnership with Coinbase, announced in April 2025, gives Coinbase users fee-free PYUSD trading and 1:1 dollar redemption.

The project has had one notable operational incident: on October 15, 2025, Paxos accidentally minted 300 trillion PYUSD on Ethereum during an internal transfer. The error was caught and the tokens were burned within about 20 minutes; Paxos confirmed it was an internal technical error, not a security breach, and no customer funds were affected.

Getting Started With PayPal USD

The easiest way to use PYUSD is inside PayPal or Venmo, but it also works like any other stablecoin in self-custody wallets:

  1. Step 1: Open a PayPal or Venmo account and complete identity verification, or set up a self-custody wallet on Ethereum, Solana, or another supported chain.
  2. Step 2: Buy PYUSD with zero fees in the PayPal or Venmo app, or acquire it on an exchange.
  3. Step 3: Send PYUSD to friends, spend it via PayPal checkout, or transfer it to an external wallet.
  4. Step 4: Optionally opt in to PayPal's rewards program to earn monthly PYUSD rewards on balances held in the app.

How to Get a PayPal USD Wallet?

PYUSD lives on several chains, so there are both custodial and self-custody options.

PayPal and Venmo

The PayPal and Venmo apps are the primary consumer venue for PYUSD, with fee-free buying, selling, and sending, plus merchant checkout and the rewards program.

MetaMask

MetaMask holds PYUSD on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Polygon as a standard ERC-20 token.

Phantom

Phantom supports PYUSD on Solana, where the token benefits from fast, cheap transfers.

Hardware Wallets

A Ledger device can be paired with MetaMask or Phantom to keep PYUSD in cold storage, which is recommended for larger holdings.

PayPal USD Resources

How to Buy PayPal USD?

PYUSD can be bought directly inside PayPal and Venmo, on centralized exchanges, and on decentralized exchanges.

Centralized Exchanges

Coinbase offers fee-free PYUSD trading with 1:1 dollar redemption. PYUSD is also listed on Kraken, OKX, Bybit, Gate, Bitget, and Crypto.com.

Decentralized Exchanges

On Ethereum, PYUSD trades on Curve and Uniswap, mostly in stablecoin pairs against USDC. On Solana it trades on Orca. Fund a wallet on the relevant chain, connect, and swap.

Latest PayPal USD News

PYUSD's expansion has accelerated through 2026. In March 2026 PayPal brought PYUSD to users across roughly 70 markets worldwide, and in July 2026 the token went natively live on Polygon as part of that network's payments stack. In February 2026 MoonPay, M0, and PayPal introduced PYUSDx, a framework that lets developers launch application-specific stablecoins backed by PYUSD reserves and issued by MoonPay rather than PayPal itself.

Alongside the geographic expansion, PayPal has leaned on its rewards program (around 4 percent annually as of mid-2026) and the Coinbase partnership to grow adoption. Supply has fluctuated with market conditions, peaking above 4 billion dollars in March 2026 before settling near 2.9 billion by mid-year. The PayPal newsroom and Paxos transparency page are the best sources for current reserve reports and new chain deployments.