PayPal’s new platform lets anyone issue a dollar backed by a dollar

Summary PayPal, M0, and MoonPay launched PYUSDx on September 9, a platform letting any business issue an application-specific stablecoin backed by PayPal USD. Three issuers are live at launch, Saturn, Concrete, and Cap, which the companies say have collectively processed more than $100 million, with USD.AI and Fairblock expected next. The structure has two layers: PYUSD is issued by Paxos Trust Company, a federally regulated national banking association, and backed by dollar deposits and Treasuries; PYUSDx tokens are issued by MoonPay Digital Assets Limited and backed by PYUSD. Tokens created on PYUSDx are not PayPal or Paxos products and cannot be sent, received, or used inside PayPal or Venmo. The GENIUS Act requires permitted issuers to back payment stablecoins one to one in named high-quality liquid assets, and a token backed by another stablecoin, issued by a different entity, is a structure the statute does not obviously address. Draw the plumbing and something odd falls out. PayPal, M0 and MoonPay went live on September 9 with PYUSDx, a platform that lets any business issue its own branded stablecoin without touching reserves, custody or redemption infrastructure. Three issu...