American financial technology company PayPal launched a new crypto stablecoin called PayPal USD (PYUSD) on Aug. 7. 

The new US dollar-backed stablecoin will be issued by Paxos Trust Co. and fully backed by United States dollar deposits, short-term Treasuries and similar cash equivalents. The firm said that the new stablecoin will be available soon to United States customers.

PYUSD will be redeemable for the U.S. dollar at all times and it can also be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies on PayPal. The payment processor claimed that the new stablecoin will soon be availble as a mode of payment for avrious purchases and will be transferable between PayPal and Venmo.

The launch of a stablecoin could push the company’s bid to become a crypto payment giant, a contention that the company started in 2020 after making way for crypto payments on the platform.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman hopes the new stablecoin would become a part of the overall payments infrastructure. 

While there are multiple stablecoins available in the crypto market, PayPal will be the first launched by a payment processing giant.

The company first confirmed its plan to launch a crypto stablecoin in January 2022 claiming it would develop a stablecoin while working closely with relevant regulators.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.