According to Bloomberg News, PayPal has put a halt to work on a potential stablecoin.
According to a corporate representative, Bloomberg “We’re looking towards a stablecoin.
If we decide to proceed, we will, of course, collaborate extensively with relevant regulators.”
Though PayPal never officially announced the initiative, code for a USD-backed “PayPal Coin” was discovered more than a year ago in the company’s application code. This code was shared with Bloomberg, who broke the news in January 2022.
According to Bloomberg, PayPal wants to deploy the stablecoin in the next few weeks, though no official launch date has been disclosed.
Bloomberg speculated that the delay could be due to regulatory issues. Paxos, the stablecoin issuer and brokerage that supplies PayPal’s crypto capabilities, was reportedly working on the asset. However, speculation has surfaced that Paxos is under investigation by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). This could have affected the firm’s emphasis.
New restrictions on staking and interest-bearing services, while not necessarily a feature of PayPal’s stablecoin, may also encourage prudence.
Despite delays with its stablecoin, PayPal has implemented a number of crypto-related features. It began allowing users to invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies entirely through its own platform in October 2020. The corporation expanded trading capabilities and upped limitations, and beginning in mid-2022, PayPal users in the United States will be able to exchange cryptocurrency with other wallets.
Meanwhile, according to recent sources, PayPal has $604 million in customer crypto, including $291 million in Bitcoin and $250 million in Ethereum.
