PayPal Holdings, Inc. announced that PayPal USD (PYUSD) will be available on the Solana blockchain at Consensus 2024 in Austin, Texas. This will bring Solana’s main attractions—low cost and fast speed—to the PYUSD stablecoin. Users can access the stablecoin through PayPal, Venmo wallets, Paxos, and blockchain native Crypto.com and Phantom.
Why Did PayPal Choose Solana for PYUSD?
The Solana network brings speedy finality and low costs to PayPal stablecoin and allows users and developers to experience low-cost payments settled in seconds. Furthermore, users can easily transfer PYUSD on Ethereum to PYUSD on Solana without additional fees. The GM of Payments at the Solana Foundation, Sheraz Shere, stated,
The Solana network’s speed and scalability make it the ideal blockchain for global financial institutions, like PayPal, to create new payment solutions that are accessible, cost-effective, and instantaneous. Continued adoption from industry giants like PayPal is crucial for the next generation of fintech innovation.
PayPal stated in a letter that several factors, including token extensions, led the team to choose the Solana blockchain for PYUSD expansion.
PYUSD Issuance
PYUSD on Solana is issued by Paxos Trust Company, a chartered limited-purpose trust company. Jose Fernandez da Ponte, a senior vice president at PayPal, said that making PYUSD available on the Solana blockchain furthers their mission of enabling a digital currency with a stable value designed for commerce and payments.
According to Artemis, a blockchain analytics platform, Solana is one of the most used blockchains for stablecoin transfers. Furthermore, it appeared as the leading blockchain for running tokenized transactions and is ideal for PYUSD because of its payment use cases.
Benefits to Utilizing PYUSD
PYUSD has become one of the earliest stablecoins to use token extensions available on Solana. The stablecoin uses token extension features like,
- Confidential Transfers: It allows merchants the option to keep transaction amounts confidential for their consumers while maintaining visibility for regulatory purposes.
- Transfer Hooks: It enables PayPal developers to call specific programs during token transfer for merchants and individuals featuring PYUSD.
- Memo Fields: It enables senders and receivers to include information with payments, creating a user-friendly experience for daily transactions and business.
Scope of Partnership Between PayPal and Solana
The partnership between Solana and PayPal can significantly enhance the reach and capability of PYUSD. It leverages Solana’s technical strengths and PayPal’s extensive user base to create a perfect payment experience. The partnership includes integration and accessibility, cross-chain transfers, enhanced payment features, scalability and speed, and regulatory compliance.
