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Inside PayPal’s big bet on its PYUSD stablecoin
Seemingly overnight, stablecoins have moved past the question of if they should be used in payments. Indeed, with large payment companies like PayPal integrating stablecoins into their networks, the issue now is how they can be used to reshape the movement of money.
When PayPal emerged in the early 2000s, its innovation was enabling digital payments between consumers and merchants. Over time, the company has expanded its remit into mobile payments, lending products, and global merchant services. Today, the company is trying out stablecoins in a bid to meet demand for faster, cheaper payment rails.
“We started in digital payments, and that was the hot and emerging topic that we really helped to bring into the industry,” May Zabaneh, senior vice president and general manager of crypto at PayPal, said on StrataMedia’s Talking Tokens podcast. “So I think it's just that consumers continue to evolve.”
Merchants’ needs are evolving, too, as are their expectations, she noted. “Merchants want lower costs. They want more global connectivity, access to more global consumers around the world and more efficient payments.”
With that in mind, Zabaneh thinks we’ll one day live in a world in which the efficiencies of stablecoins are used in the back end as well as the front end.
PYUSD, Paypal’s USD-backed stablecoin, took a couple years to scale distribution after it was launched in August 2023. Today, it ranks as the seventh-largest stablecoin, with a market cap of about $3.72 billion — a small part of the total $300 billion stablecoin market — and is available in about 70 countries.
The stablecoin has a monthly transfer volume of about $47 billion, up 35% over the past 30 days, with over 141,000 holders, according to data from RWA.xyz.
“I think we're just getting started,” Zabaneh said, with regard to PYUSD’s volume. And within five years, she’s optimistic that PYUSD will account for 10% or more of PayPal’s total volume.
“When you leverage that with the power of our network and our distribution of over 430 million users and customers around the world, then it becomes a really interesting way you can apply it,” she added. “I expect us to continue to grow, especially from a volume perspective, because that is what really matters at a payments company.”
Zabaneh expects a bigger flywheel effect on stablecoin applications, especially in emerging markets where consumer and merchant adoption of stablecoins is growing.
But despite their technical advantages, stablecoins face a familiar hurdle with user experiences today. Most consumers don’t want to think about infrastructure, which is why the likely end state will have stablecoins operating largely in the background, Zabaneh said.
Users might hold their balance, send money, or pay a merchant without knowing whether the transaction was run on traditional rails or blockchain-based ones.
But getting there will require more than technology. A successful transition of that scale will depend on distribution, trust, and integration with products people already use. With hundreds of millions of existing users, PayPal is betting that embedding stablecoins into familiar interfaces can help accelerate that adoption curve.
“It's obvious that stablecoins are here to stay. There is no doubt about that,” Zabaneh said. “What everybody's wrestling with is what is that application? How do I drive adoption? How do I drive value back to my customers?”
Check out the next section for more details and the full episode.
The latest Talking Tokens podcast 🎙️
For today’s episode, I interviewed May Zabaneh, SVP and GM of Crypto at PayPal, about why today’s payment systems still suffer from hidden inefficiencies and how stablecoins are emerging as the next layer of financial infrastructure.
May explains that while payments today work, they remain slow, costly, and fragmented especially across borders. She breaks down how stablecoins enable faster, cheaper, and more flexible global transactions, and why their real impact may come not from user-facing products, but backend rails powering money movement.
The conversation explores what “programmable money” actually means, how agent-driven commerce could automate transactions, and why simplicity and trust are the biggest barriers to adoption. Maye also shares where stablecoins are already working at scale, from peer-to-peer payments to global payouts and how businesses benefit from faster settlement and improved capital efficiency.
They also discuss generational shifts in crypto adoption, the role of stablecoins in emerging markets, and why access to stable currency is becoming increasingly important globally. The episode closes with how PayPal is approaching the space differently: focusing on PYUSD distribution, real-world usage, and integrating stablecoins into everyday financial systems.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction
02:13 PayPal’s Hidden Advantage in Crypto
04:38 Payments Are “Easy”… But Still Messy
07:34 The Real Stablecoin Unlock: Cross-Border Efficiency
10:49 Paypal’s outlook on Stablecoins
13:28 The Inflection Point With Programmable Money
15:29 The First Real Use Case of Agents + Payments
18:28 The Trust Barrier (And How It Breaks)
22:14 The Business Case For Margins, Speed and Survival
24:33 The Endgame: Invisible Financial Infrastructure
27:37 PayPal vs The Broader Stablecoin Market
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