In a move to expand its cryptocurrency offerings, PayPal announced the expansion of its stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), to the Solana blockchain. This marks PayPal’s first venture outside the Ethereum ecosystem.
The integration with Solana aims to make PYUSD transactions faster and cheaper, particularly for everyday purchases. Solana boasts a processing speed of up to 65,000 transactions per second with fees as low as $0.0025, compared to Ethereum’s 15 transactions per second and fees ranging from $1 to $50. This translates to near-instantaneous transactions on Solana compared to minutes on Ethereum.
“This expansion furthers our goal of creating a stable digital currency for everyday commerce,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s senior vice president of blockchain.
PayPal users will have a unified experience regardless of the underlying blockchain (Ethereum or Solana) holding their PYUSD balance.
Solana’s popularity in stablecoin transfers has been rising. Data shows that over the past year, Solana processed $1.5 trillion in stablecoin transfers, surpassing Ethereum’s $885 billion during the same period.
PayPal launched PYUSD in August 2023 in collaboration with Paxos Trust Company. Initially available only on Ethereum, PYUSD is backed by US dollar deposits, short-term Treasuries, and cash equivalents. While Tether currently dominates the stablecoin market with a market cap of $111 billion, PYUSD is steadily gaining traction, currently valued at $272.96 million.
