PayPal is dramatically expanding the map of countries where users can send and receive its branded stablecoin. As of this month, customers in 70 nations will now be able to hold PYUSD in their PayPal wallets, May Zabaneh, senior vice president and the company’s head of crypto, told Fortune. Those countries—which are a subset of the approximately 200 in which PayPal operates—include Uganda, Colombia, Peru, and new additions in South America, Africa, and Asia. Previously, only customers in the U.S. and U.K. were able to hold the stablecoin.
In addition to being able to send and receive PYUSD, users abroad will also be able to earn rewards on their stablecoin holdings. Existing holders in the U.S. earn 4% annually.
“Now you’re really opening up not only access—especially in places where they need it most— but also cross-border transfers and volume, where the pain is felt so high,” said Zabaneh.
Across borders
Proponents of stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to real-world assets like the U.S. dollar, have long touted the tokens’ capacity to reduce fees for sending money cross-border. PayPal’s Zabaneh hopes that the expansion of PYUSD abroad will help realize that potential.
Currently, PayPal users in select countries like Peru can only withdraw money from their accounts in their country’s native currency. If a New Yorker sends $10 over PayPal to someone in Lima, for example, the Peruvian user has to pay a cross-border transfer fee and must take out the money in the Peruvian sol. Now, the ability to send and receive PYUSD enables users to keep funds in what are essentially U.S. dollars and reduce transfer fees, said Zabaneh.
Moreover, some countries like Malawi don’t let users keep money transfers in their PayPal wallets. Once one Malawian sends money over PayPal to another, that cash is immediately sent to the recipient’s bank account. Opening up access to PYUSD lets users keep that money in their PayPal wallets, as opposed to only their bank accounts, added Zabaneh.
“It unlocks a balance-type concept in these accounts and an earnings concept,” she said.
The fintech’s expansion of access to PYUSD comes as PayPal continues to integrate the stablecoin throughout its various business verticals. Customers like YouTube who use the company’s payouts product can choose to receive payments in the stablecoin. PayPal has also experimented with using PYUSD to transfer funds internationally across its different corporate entities.
Over the past year, the total market capitalization of PayPal’s stablecoin has more than quintupled to $4.1 billion, according to data from CoinGecko. After initially pausing development amid scrutiny from a New York financial regulator of PayPal’s launch partner, the fintech launched the token in the summer of 2023.
