PayPal, a global e-payments giant company, has announced future plans of owning its own cryptocurrency called PayPal Coin, a stablecoin that will be backed by the American Dollar. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies backed and priced by the value of an existing currency or commodity.
Steve Moser, a software developer was the first person to discover evidence of PayPal’s future plans to explore stablecoins through a hidden code and image named ‘PayPal Coin’ which indicates that the coin would be backed by the United States Dollar.
Speaking on Paypal’s future plans for stablecoin, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, senior vice president of crypto and digital currencies at PayPal in an interview with Bloomberg explained that research is still ongoing and would ensure all regulatory standards are met before the launch of PayPal coin.
“We are exploring a stablecoin; if and when we seek to move forward, we will, of course, work closely with relevant regulators. There would have to be clarity on the regulation, the regulatory frameworks, and the type of licenses that are needed in this space”. He said.
In a podcast held recently, Fernandez da Ponte said that the company has “not yet seen a stablecoin out there that is purpose-built for payments”, and PayPal’s stablecoin would have strong security that would support payments on a large scale.
Quoting a PayPal spokeswoman, Bloomberg revealed that the images and code inside of the PayPal app stemmed from a recent internal hackathon — an event in which engineers team up to quickly explore and build new products that may never see a public release — within the company’s blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies division. That means the ultimate logo, name, and features could change in its public product form.
In October 2020 after PayPal announced plans to support cryptocurrency, Meltem Demirors, an executive at CoinShares had said she will not be surprised if PayPal issues its own token.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the next six to 12 months, we see PayPal launching its own digital currency similar to a digital dollar that we see in many payments companies”. She said.
