PayPal expands its PYUSD stablecoin to 70 countries and accelerates its global expansion

PayPal’s stablecoin finally leaves its American stronghold. The company has just announced its deployment in 70 countries, an expansion that confirms its global ambition. Facing the giants Tether and Circle, the battle for cross-border transfers is officially launched.

A global offensive to democratize the stablecoin

PayPal announces the expansion of its stablecoin PYUSD to 70 countries, covering Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Until now limited to the United States and the United Kingdom, this deployment marks a change of scale. The goal is clear: to integrate the stablecoin at the heart of daily uses.

Practically, users can now send, receive, and hold digital dollars directly from their PayPal account. This evolution meets a real need, especially in emerging markets where international transfers remain costly and slow.

” Activating PYUSD in 70 markets offers users faster access to their funds, cheaper international transfers, and a more direct path to the global economy,” explains May Zabaneh, Head of Crypto at PayPal.

PYUSD acts here as an optimization lever. By removing certain banking intermediaries, it reduces frictions. In countries with strong monetary restrictions, it also allows retaining exposure to the dollar without immediate conversion.

Beyond simple transfers, users in new markets can also earn rewards on their PYUSD holdings, an advantage that enhances the stablecoin’s attractiveness compared to traditional bank accounts, often low-yielding in emerging countries.

A defensive… and offensive strategy against competition

This expansion does not come out of nowhere. It occurs in a context of increased pressure on PayPal. Between the rise of solutions like Apple Pay or Google Pay, and the ambitions of Stripe, the group must reinvent itself.

The stablecoin then becomes a strategic tool. Since its launch in 2023 with Paxos, PYUSD has experienced rapid growth. Its market capitalization exploded by 600% in 2025, rising from about 500 million dollars at the start of the year to 4.1 billion dollars. It now ranks seventh worldwide among dollar-pegged stablecoins, according to CoinGecko.

This trajectory fits into an equally ambitious technical expansion strategy. In September 2025, PayPal had already extended PYUSD to nine new blockchains, including Tron and Avalanche, thanks to the LayerZero protocol. A diversification that strengthens the stablecoin’s liquidity and opens the way to broader DeFi uses.

Despite this momentum, competition remains fierce. Tether dominates largely with 171 billion dollars in capitalization, followed by Circle with 74 billion. Facing these giants, PYUSD remains modest. However, PayPal has a major asset: a base of over 430 million users and a solid reputation built over two decades in online payments.

Finally, the timing of this expansion is no coincidence. Both in the US and Europe, regulators are advancing on the framework for stablecoins. In this new regulatory context, established, compliant, and credible players have a competitive advantage that new entrants will find hard to match.