PayPal has been expanding its cryptocurrency business since it opened the deal to all users in 2020. It allowed US customers to checkout with cryptocurrency and raised its cryptocurrency purchase limit last year. In the future, it may also offer a stablecoin of its own. Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s senior vice president of cryptocurrencies and digital currencies, confirmed Bloomberg that the online payment provider is “exploiting a stablecoin”. He also said the company will work closely with relevant regulators “if and when [it] Search for[s] move on.”
A developer named Steve Moser found code and hidden images for a “PayPal Coin” in the company’s app and shared them with Bloomberg. Based on what he discovered, PayPal’s currency will be backed by the US dollar. It can also feature the PayPal logo with two horizontal bars, although this could change after the coin is launched if it sees the light of day. A spokesman told the publication that the tidbits Moser discovered in the app were leftovers from an internal hackathon by the company’s blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital currency division.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies backed by fiat currencies and are typically more stable than their decentralized counterparts. Meta (formerly Facebook) also has big cryptocurrency plans and should release a digital wallet that supports its own stablecoin called Diem. However, it faced resistance from regulators and launched the Novi cryptocurrency portfolio with a stablecoin called Pax Dollar.
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