The new PayPal stablecoin is coming to Coinbase under experimental label, according to the exchange’s statement. PayPal is a major player in the digital finance space, but many people don’t trust the platform.
The U.S. leading crypto exchange Coinbase confirmed that it would add PayPal’s recently launched stablecoin PYUSD, starting from August 3, if there is sufficient liquidity for PYUSD.
The upcoming listing will be labeled as an “experimental asset,” denoting tokens that are either newcomers to the exchange or have relatively lower trading volumes when compared to the broader cryptocurrency market.
Coinbase Adds Support for PYUSD
According to Coinbase’s announcement, it is set to enable compatibility with PayPal USD (PYUSD) as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. PYUSD transfers are accessible via Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange in the regions that support trading. The listing confirmation came after the exchange’s first mention last Friday.
“Once sufficient supply of this asset is established trading on our PYUSD-USD trading pairs will launch in phases. Support for PYUSD may be restricted in some supported jurisdictions,” Coinbase noted on its official account.
Earlier this month, PayPal announced it partnered with Paxos to launch stablecoin PayPal USD (PYUSD). Paxos Trust Company is also the issuer of BUSD. The blockchain infrastructure company said that PayPal’s stablecoin is demonstrating the value of blockchain technology in the real world.
Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla additionally asserted that PYUSD is the most important advancement for digital assets and the financial industry, and it represents the next phase of the US dollar on blockchain.
However, almost one month after the introduction, the PYUSD uptake hasn’t met expectations despite its availability on popular exchanges such as Crypto.com, Huobi, and Kraken.
Will Binance List PYUSD?
Despite having been in existence for several years, stablecoins have not yet gained significant traction within the consumer payments ecosystem. Rather, consumers predominantly employ stablecoins as a medium for exchanging other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether.
Stablecoin has been under increased regulatory pressure since the collapse of TerraUSD (UST). Binance has urged users to swiftly convert their BUSD holdings to alternative stablecoins before February 2024.
According to Binance’s announcement on August 31, the primary reason behind this decision stems from regulatory actions against Paxos. The BUSD’s issuer was mandated to cease the minting of the new BUSD. These regulatory actions have left Binance with no choice but to discontinue its support for BUSD.
To facilitate this transition, Binance has recommended alternative stablecoins like FDUSD and even introduced a complimentary conversion program to aid users.
Effective on September 7, 2023, BUSD withdrawal portals on various networks including BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, and Tron will cease operations.
However, the loading port will remain operational until further notice. Additionally, Binance will remove BUSD from various product offerings, including Liquidity Pools, Gift Cards, Lending, and leveraged transactions.
This development marks the conclusion of an era for BUSD, which once held a prominent position among the top three largest stablecoins in the world by market capitalization.
Binance’s recent actions align with its recent delisting of several BUSD trading pairs and its decision not to support trading with BUSD for newly listed coins. Binance has been under major pressure from regulators around the world.
Binance’s recent actions also raise questions about the possibility of the exchange listing PYUSD in the future. As of now, the exchange has not provided any official comments or statements regarding the potential listing of PYUSD.
Before PayPal, Meta (formerly Facebook) had introduced the Libra stablecoin in 2019. However, these aspirations were met with substantial resistance from financial regulators and policymakers who expressed concerns about the potential disruption it could bring to global financial stability.
Consequently, in February 2022, Meta opted to divest the project in an agreement worth $182 million with Silvergate Capital.
