Is PayPal Front Running Facebook With Its Own Stablecoin?

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Of course given the fact that the founders of PayPal were once known as the PayPal Mafia, it was only a matter of time before they would hijack another tech company’s idea. At least that is how it seems now that PayPal is considering going into the stablecoin business of its own.

Would be quite the feat to launch this, while Facebook has been promising Libra (now called Diem) for months.

PayPal and Square

The current bull run of Bitcoin was started back in November when Square (the fintech company owned by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, an avid crypto fan) and PayPal announced entries into crypto. By now, it looks like PayPal is ready to expand its current rollout and is considering launching its very own stablecoin next year.

Payments Giant PayPal Now Reportedly Working on its Own Stablecoin https://t.co/q9WxO6uhnO #PayPal

— Crypto Mak 🌐 (@crypto__mak) May 4, 2021

Four different sources have confirmed to Wall Street media that PayPal has held talks with Ava Labs, the company that previously launched the Avalanche blockchain about starting its own stablecoin in the coming years (2022 seems to be the desired launch date).

Nasty secret

A spokesperson for PayPal didn’t deny the rumor, answering:

PayPal continues to explore the potential of digital currencies, digital financial services infrastructure and how we can help enhance digital commerce as a trusted partner in the space.

As a global company working with regulators and industry partners throughout the world to shape the next generation of financial systems, the company is in frequent conversation about technologies that enable these goals. However, rumors and speculation are not predictive of the company’s future plans.

In fact, back in November 2020, CryptoTips already announced that PayPal might be going this way, when we informed you that PayPal’s entry into the cryptosphere came with a nasty secret.

👀 PayPal is allegedly exploring the possibility of launching its own stablecoin. pic.twitter.com/FGLingirJr

— MS TRADE (@mstrade) May 4, 2021

Satoshi Labs, the company that runs hardware wallet Trezor, said at that time:

Users will not have the key to their own coins, while on the other they intend to “provide account holders with educational content to help them understand the cryptocurrency ecosystem”. The idea that anyone informed about bitcoin would agree to not holding their private keys might indicate that this educational content will overlook the fundamental rule:  Not your keys; not your coins.

Race is on

We’re sure that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will know that this means the race is on. Which Silicon Valley company will launch its first stablecoin? Given Facebook’s current antitrust troubles with the US congress that wants to split up the all too powerful company, it is clear that the biggest social media company in the world does not want to rush into it right now, but thinking that Zuckerberg is ready to let PayPal be the first could also be an underestimation.

AVFC / Depositphotos.com