PYUSD
PayPal's USDC-competing stablecoin, issued by Paxos and live on Ethereum and Solana.
PYUSD (PayPal USD) is a US dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Paxos Trust Company under OCC conditional approval received in December 2025 (alongside Circle); Paxos's primary active reserve management framework remains its NYDFS state trust charter during the federal rollout phase. PYUSD is distributed through PayPal and Venmo. Reserves are 100% cash, US Treasuries, and cash equivalents held in segregated, bankruptcy-remote accounts, with monthly attestation reports. PYUSD launched on Ethereum in August 2023 and on Solana in May 2024; as of Q1 2026, total supply exceeded $4B with Solana holding roughly 60% and Ethereum 35% (Paxos transparency reports, Q1 2026). PayPal expanded PYUSD to 70 international markets in March 2026.
- Circulating supply approximately $4B+ in Q1 2026 (Paxos Q1 2026 report) — down slightly in Q2 but still among the top-five stablecoins by market cap.
- Issued by Paxos Trust Company under NYDFS state trust charter (active primary framework); received OCC conditional approval in December 2025 alongside Circle — one of the first stablecoin issuers to reach the federal approval stage.
- Solana holds ~60% of PYUSD supply as of April 2026, reflecting its use as a payment and DeFi token within Solana's ecosystem; Kamino on Solana maintains isolated PYUSD markets with supply APY tracking 4–9% through Q2 2026.
- Aave V3 (Ethereum and Arbitrum), Curve Finance, Uniswap V3/V4, and Kamino (Solana) are the primary DeFi venues; Arbitrum markets reached $331M TVL per CoinStats data.
- YouTube Creator payouts in PYUSD launched December 2025; Stellar Development Foundation integrated PYUSD in June 2025 for cross-border payments.
Frequently asked questions
Who actually issues PYUSD — PayPal or Paxos?
Paxos Trust Company, N.A. issues and holds the reserves for PYUSD. PayPal is the distributor and consumer interface but does not control the reserve assets or the minting/burning process. If Paxos were to fail, client assets are held in segregated bankruptcy-remote accounts separate from Paxos's corporate balance sheet.
Can PayPal freeze PYUSD in my DeFi wallet?
Paxos, as the issuer, maintains technical freeze capabilities on the PYUSD token contract in response to lawful regulatory orders (sanctions, court orders). This is standard for regulated stablecoins. PYUSD in your self-custody wallet is not subject to PayPal account actions, but the underlying token contract remains subject to Paxos's compliance obligations.
Why is PYUSD's DeFi TVL still small compared to USDC?
USDC benefits from a near-monopoly as the default institutional DeFi stablecoin, built up over five years with deep AMM pools, CCTP bridging, and widespread protocol-level integrations. PYUSD is less than three years old and its DeFi integrations are growing but nascent. The concentration of PYUSD supply in PayPal's own infrastructure means a large portion is not yet deployed in open DeFi markets.