Prominent cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced it will list PYUSD, the newly launched PayPal stablecoin. In a tweet on Wednesday, the exchange noted that trading of the stablecoin will begin on or after 9 AM PT on August 31 if liquidity conditions are met.
Coinbase to Support PYUSD
“Once sufficient supply of this asset is established, trading on our PYUSD-USD trading pairs will launch in phases. Support for PYUSD may be restricted in some supported jurisdictions,” Coinbase said on X (formerly Twitter).
Coinbase stated that it will support PYUSD with the “Experimental” label. The experimental label is a warning applied to certain tradable assets that are either new to the platform or have relatively low trading volume compared to other assets on Coinbase’s broader crypto marketplace. The crypto exchange monitors and may remove these labels from experimental assets if they no longer meet the criteria.
With the latest developments, Coinbase is now joining a host of other major cryptocurrency exchanges already supporting PYUSD. Huobi, Kraken, and Crypto.com have all listed the stablecoin.
PayPal launched PYUSD earlier this month. Issued by Paxos, PYUSD is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. Treasuries, and similar cash equivalents. The stablecoin is built on Ethereum and is compatible with other ERC-20 tokens. PayPal stated that the stable token is designed to transform payments in Web3 and digitally native environments.
Sluggish Demand
Meanwhile, despite several major crypto exchanges announcing support for PYUSD, data reveals that the stablecoin is experiencing a lack of demand from crypto investors. According to a new report from The Block that cited data from blockchain analytics firm Nansen, only a small fraction of crypto users use and hold the token in self-custody wallets.
According to the report, this sluggish demand arises from the fact that there is a long list of stablecoin options that investors can pick from. The report added that this could also happen because PayPal is “targeting a different demographic.”
