PayPal $PYPL launches its first digital currency.

PayPal USD, issued by Paxos Trust Company, is a type of digital currency called a stablecoin, which differs from other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin because their value is pegged to the dollar.

The $PYPL posted results a few days ago that were mixed and sent the price down several percent. In addition, news also came out that CEO Dan Schulman plans to retire this year, but there is no replacement for him yet.

But before that happens, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said , "the shift towards digital currencies requires a stable instrument that is digitally native and easily linked to a fiat currency like the US dollar." And he added that it is "our commitment to responsible innovation and compliance and our track record of delivering new experiences to our customers provide the foundation necessary to contribute to the growth of digital payments through PayPal USD."

This, of course, comes at a time of heightened scrutiny in the crypto industry, with regulators trying to prevent a repeat of the TerraUSD stablecoin collapse that wiped tens of billions of dollars from the markets in 2022. The latter was also pegged to the US dollar, but unlike PayPal USD was not backed by any dollar reserves. Facebook also attempted this with Project Libra, but it closed last year due to pressure from regulators.

The US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee and its chairman, Patrick McHenry, have since introduced a bill to create a federal framework for stablecoins so they can be integrated into modern payment systems. And he said, "we are currently at a crossroads to keep America at the forefront of digital asset innovation."

I'm curious what this will do to the $PYPL share price, it doesn't look promising today and I'm personally not very positive about it. Even though I like the crypto world and the financial world has to evolve too. And I like the idea of pure BTC, which is quite different from stablecoins, so with this project I'm afraid that regulations will rather damage them. But well, maybe it will be the other way around and help them with revenue. Post opinions and whether you would buy $PYPL? 😊