PayPal Expands PYUSD to Stellar in Bid for Faster, Cheaper Stablecoin Payments

Key Takeaways

• PayPal plans to deploy its PYUSD stablecoin on Stellar.
• After Ethereum and Solana, Stellar is the third supported blockchain for PYUSD.
• Stellar offers several distinct advantages for stablecoins.

PayPal announced on Wednesday, June 11, that it plans to deploy PYUSD on Stellar (XLM), the third blockchain network to support the stablecoin.

While Stellar adoption lags behind more popular stablecoin chains like Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), PayPal’s embrace of the technology signals a powerful vote of confidence from a major payment processor. 

Stablecoins on Stellar

Stellar currently supports at least a dozen stablecoins from issuers including Circle, GMO Trust, Novatti and Orokii.

With the exception of Circle’s USDC, these are mostly niche stablecoins with a relatively small market capitalization.

However, PayPal’s arrival on the scene could change that.

PYUSD Adoption

While USDC and Tether’s USDT still lead in sheer volume, in the first quarter of 2025, PYUSD overtook the leading stablecoins in terms of on-chain velocity.

This metric measures how frequently each stablecoin changes hands within a given period. A high velocity indicates active trading or frequent use for payments.

Meanwhile, a low velocity suggests more coins are held stationary as reserves or collateral.

One factor that may be driving up PYUSD velocity is PayPal’s growing integration of the stablecoin into its retail platform, especially for merchants accepting international payments.

PYUSD’s high transaction velocity and cross-border use cases could explain PayPal’s decision to tap Stellar as its third supported blockchain.

Stellar Advantages for Stablecoins

Compared to some of its peers, Stellar offers several distinct advantages for stablecoin transactions.

With sub-five-second finality, Stellar’s consensus mechanism is significantly faster than Ethereum’s. Meanwhile, the network hasn’t faced any of the downtime that has plagued Solana.

Stellar was also designed to keep fees low and predictable, in contrast to the volatile fee market for other blockchain transactions.

Finally, the blockchain is plugged into over 475,000 on-ramps and 322,000 off-ramps via the anchor network.

This support for fiat swaps could be a crucial feature if PayPal is to integrate PYUSD into retail payment flows.