American fintech company PayPal is reportedly planning to launch its own cryptocurrency in the future. Paypal originally opened crypto trading for its U.S. users back in 2020, enabling people to buy and sell Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash, before expanding its crypto operations last year. However, the company's latest plan is even more ambitious as it looks to debut its own digital token going forward.
Cryptocurrencies have seen increasing acceptance in mainstream society over the past couple of years, both within and outside the U.S. Late last year, the first Bitcoin ETF began trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A few weeks later, America's largest movie theater chain, AMC Theaters, announced plans to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for online payments. However, one of the most significant victories for cryptocurrencies came earlier in the year when El Salvador declared Bitcoin legal tender.
In a statement to Bloomberg News this week, Paypal's Senior Vice President of crypto and digital currencies, Jose Fernandez da Ponte confirmed that the company is “exploring a stablecoin.” He also promised that the company would work with the regulators to make its plans come to fruition. Stablecoins, for those unaware, are digital tokens whose values are pegged to fiat currencies, such as the dollar or the euro. This gives them perceived 'stability' against wild fluctuations in price, and hence the name.
The PayPal App Referred To A 'PayPal Coin'According to Bloomberg, the first hints about PayPal's in-house cryptocurrency plans were found by developer Steve Moser. He discovered a hidden reference to a 'PayPal Coin' within the company's app. Moser subsequently contacted the publication to share his findings. The code and images found by Moser suggested that PayPal's token will be a so-called stablecoin backed by the U.S. dollar. It is worth noting that Paypal's planned stablecoin is still under development, which means the name and other plans might change by the time it is ready for prime time.
While da Ponte did not elaborate to Bloomberg why PayPal is planning to launch its own digital token despite the availability of so many existing cryptocurrencies, an earlier statement from him on the Unchained podcast offers an insight into the thought process of PayPal executives. According to him, none of the existing stablecoins are “purpose-built for payments,” which necessitates PayPal to consider launching its own, in-house option. Furthermore, according to him, for a cryptocurrency to be adopted by PayPal, it must support payments at scale and offer a high level of security. He also said that the company would want more regulatory clarity about cryptocurrencies going forward.