Payments giant PayPal confirmed it is exploring its own stablecoin after evidence of such a project was found in its iPhone app’s code.
Fast facts
- “We are exploring a stablecoin; if and when we seek to move forward we will of course, work closely with relevant regulators,” PayPal’s Senior Vice President of Crypto and Digital Currencies Jose Fernandez da Ponte told Bloomberg.
- Dubbed “PayPal Coin,” the project is expected to be backed by the U.S. dollar and could lower the cost of sending and receiving money when using PayPal.
- PayPal already supports the use of cryptocurrency for payments in certain regions, and a stablecoin can provide easier adoption for merchants and customers that remain crypto-hesitant due to volatility.
- PayPal is a global market leader with a near 50% dominance of the payment processing market when measured by web integration.
- However, in Asia, regional competitors such as WeChat Pay and Alipay dominate the market.