- PayPal's stablecoin is backed by short-term treasuries, USD deposits, cash equivalents
- Its market cap reached $150 million within two months of its launch
- SEC has sued Binance, Coinbase, and other leading crypto companies
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sent payment processor PayPal a subpoena for its USD-pegged stablecoin, PYUSD, according to PayPal’s financial report to the regulator.
In the subpoena, the SEC requested PayPal to make specific documents available. PayPal noted that they are cooperating with the SEC regarding their request.
PayPal launched the stablecoin in August this year. It is backed by short-term treasuries, USD deposits, and cash equivalents, and is issued by Paxos Trust. PYUSD runs on the Ethereum Mainnet and is aimed at handling Web3 and digital payments.
A highly successful project
PYUSD’s market cap reached $150 million within two months of its launch. At the time of writing, the market cap of PYUSD was $158.5 million, with trading volume of just under $7 million a day, data from Coinmarketcap showed.
Building on previous successes
PayPal’s stablecoin began to enjoy mass adoption after leading exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, and Crypto.com listed it on their platforms soon after it was introduced. PayPal announced an integration of the PYUSD stablecoin into the Venmo mobile payment service recently, which has allowed users to buy PYUSD and send it to relatives and friends.
PayPal introduced crypto services in the UK
PayPal has moved into crypto aggressively in the US, but it’s expanding its crypto-related activities to other territories as well. At the end of October, PayPal was issued a license by the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK to offer crypto services in the country.
A difficult environment
The SEC’s most recent litigation proves how difficult the US has become for crypto companies. The watchdog has sued Binance, Coinbase, and other leading crypto companies. Last month, the SEC dismissed a long-standing case against the senior executives of Ripple, the company behind the XRP token, which is in the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap.
