PayPal announced on March 17 that its dollar-backed stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), is now accessible in 70 markets globally spanning Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The expansion enables users to buy, hold, send, and receive PYUSD directly from their PayPal accounts, with instant transfers to contacts and conversion to local currency for withdrawals.
May Zabaneh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto at PayPal, framed the move as addressing systemic inefficiency: “Consumers and businesses around the world are looking for faster, more seamless ways to transact globally and the current system still charges too much, takes too long, and settles on timelines that were designed for a different era.”
PYUSD is issued by Paxos Trust Company under OCC regulation, fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits and Treasury equivalents at a fixed 1:1 rate. For businesses, the stablecoin offers settlement in minutes rather than the days or weeks required by traditional cross-border payment methods. Named markets include Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with remaining markets gaining access within weeks of the announcement.
The expansion represents a significant scaling from PYUSD’s initial U.S.-only availability at its 2023 launch, positioning PayPal’s stablecoin as a genuine cross-border settlement alternative rather than a domestic novelty.
Source: PayPal Newsroom, March 17, 2026
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