Cryptos: PayPal's great ambitions

While it's been a fairly quiet summer for most companies, others like PayPal have not been idle. In the space of a few days, the American giant has announced several projects in the Web3 universe, even though the crypto markets don't seem to be at their best. Why this strategy? We take stock 🧐.

👉 PayPal's stablecoin

PayPal's first announcement concerns its stablecoin, the "PYUSD". A stablecoin (read our report on the subject) is a cryptocurrency whose value is indexed to a real asset considered stable, in this case the US dollar 🇺🇸.

The parity of the PYUSD, which has been available since yesterday on several platforms in the United States, is ensured by holding reserves of dollars and US Treasury bills (US debt). The more demand for PYUSD increases, the more PayPal will increase its reserve, and vice versa.

For PayPal, the launch of its own stablecoin - available on the Ethereum blockchain - is anything but trivial. At a time when the battle in payments is raging, particularly online with all the payment apps, the PYUSD will enable it to become even more essential.

The PYUSD will make it possible to carry out transfers between wallets, make payments on online sites or in physical shops, all without going through traditional payment infrastructures.‍

👉 The "Crypto Hub"‍

Alongside its stablecoin, PayPal has also announced the launch of its "Crypto Hub", which is none other than a platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies.

The Crypto Hub will gradually be accessible to users with a PayPal account, initially in the United States and then across the rest of the planet. Fees will vary according to the amounts involved: the lower the volumes, the higher the commission.

Fees are 0.49 cents for a purchase or sale of less than $5. They are "only" 1.5% above $1,000 (i.e. $15 for a $1,000 purchase). These prices are still in the low mid-range of other major crypto platforms aimed at the general public.

To launch this service, the American giant has teamed up with one of the specialists in buying and selling crypto: Paxos. It is the American company that will be helping PayPal to carry out the transactions.

An important point to note, however, is that PayPal users, who will have to provide their personal information, will not hold their cryptocurrencies directly. It is the American giant that will do this on their behalf (with its own wallet), a bit like a bank currently. So customers won't have to worry about keeping their cryptos.‍

👉 Partnership with Ledger‍

Last but not least, the American group has announced a partnership with Ledger, which is a French player and the world leader in crypto storage solutions (with its small Nano devices). Ledger has already sold more than 6 million Nano devices worldwide! (read the interview with its boss Pascal Gauthier).‍

The aim of the partnership between Ledger and PayPal is to integrate PayPal into Ledger Live, the software present in Ledger's digital wallets. All Nano users will be able to buy cryptos with their PayPal account from the Ledger Live interface.

Only four cryptocurrencies will initially be available via this service: bitcoin, ether, litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. This service, too, will be reserved for Americans to begin with.