Provider at a glance
- Category
- Stablecoins
- Entity
- All 3 PayPal products
- Official website
- paypal.com
Independent rankingchecked How it works
Details
Scored 79 out of 100 under methodology 2026.10.18, from the evidence read in September 2026.
PayPal USD (PYUSD)
PayPal's dollar stablecoin
Stablecoins
#1 Overall
Ranked #1 of 11 stablecoins in the published ranking
79
ChainChoice Score
The ChainChoice Score, shown against 100: published scores run from 41 to 99.- High evidence confidence
- $0.00 your cost/yr
Is PayPal USD (PYUSD) right for you?
Right for you if these matter most
- Who owes you the dollar7/10, the category best
- Redemption at par8/10, the category best
- Freeze and burn powers6/10; the category best is 7
Look elsewhere if these come first
- Reserves and assurance4/10 here; USDC scores 8
Not yet tested for your country. Markets it lists: Global.
to test where you can use it.
The rank above is the published one, the same for every reader. Find my best stablecoin shows where it lands for you.
What will PayPal USD (PYUSD) cost you?
$0.00 your cost/yr
- Your monthly volume
- $1k
- Conversion spread
- 0%
How safe is PayPal USD (PYUSD)?
- Evidence: verified4 of 4 criteria rest on quoted, sourced receipts. Read September 2026.
- LicenceMiCA (EU): no register record on file here.
Alternatives to PayPal USD (PYUSD)
Compare all 4- 2USDC2 points below · stronger on reserves and assurance (8 against 4)77
- 3Ripple USD (RLUSD)4 points below · stronger on reserves and assurance (8 against 4)75
- 4FDUSD (First Digital USD)17 points below · stronger on reserves and assurance (6 against 4)62
For your setup
Find out if PayPal USD (PYUSD) fits you
The rank above is the published one — the same for every visitor. Answer the category's questions and this section shows where PayPal USD (PYUSD) lands for you, which criteria your answers weight up, and which stated needs the record does or does not meet. The published rank stays beside it.
- A few questions
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- Ranking-blind: no commercial input
- Personalised in under 60 seconds
Find my best stablecoinNothing is inferred from clicks, popularity or commercial value.
Why it leads
Why PayPal USD (PYUSD) ranks #1
Each strength is read from evidence on a 0–10 ladder and weighted as the published methodology states. The 32 objective points these produce (20.4 here) sit inside the score; availability, friction, trust record and measured data add the rest. Best in this ranking on 2 of 4.
4 published criteria · Σ weight 100
CriterionWeightStrength · 0–10ScoreContrib.MedianBestRankEvidence
307+6.722.07#1/11Loading evidence…
288+7.173.08#1/11Loading evidence…
244+3.073.08#4/11Loading evidence…
186+3.465.07#2/11Loading evidence…
Hairline = best in this ranking · tick = its median · a missing bar is "not scored", never zero
Margin+2over USDC, #2
RobustnessOne point from changingacross a one-point change to each of its 4 criterion scores, the re-run scores 79–80 and ranks #1–#2
Evidence4 of 4 scored4 quoted, 4 with a source link
What would move the rank
Each line is the ranking run again with one of PayPal USD (PYUSD)’s criterion scores changed and every other value held: the smallest whole-point change on that criterion that moves its rank, and where the re-run puts it. Up to 4 climbs and 3 falls are listed, smallest change first. Nothing here is a forecast.
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? 7 → 6 on its ladder · USDC passes it−179#1 → #2
Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? 8 → 7 on its ladder · USDC passes it−179#1 → #2
What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? 4 → 2 on its ladder · USDC passes it−278#1 → #2
Strengths
3 from the score dataWhere it leads
Best for readers who weight
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? — 7/10, the category best
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? — 8/10, the category best
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? — 6/10, category best 7/10
Tradeoffs
1 from the score dataWhere it trails
Not for readers who put first
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? — 4/10 against a category best of 8/10
Record watch-outs
- The protections are scoped to Paxos account-holders; the powers are scoped to everyone. §3.5.6 says the freeze, seizure, forfeiture and destruction section “This Section 3.5 applies to all holders of USD Stablecoins, regardless of whether the holder is a Customer of Paxos.” — but §2.2.2 says “Only Customers may purchase USD Stablecoins from us or redeem USD Stablecoins from us.” and the bankruptcy-remoteness sentence at §3.2.3.1 is framed as “Your assets held with Paxos Trust” and sits inside a subsection headed “3.2.3. Pass-Through Insurance Option.” Buy PYUSD on an exchange, hold it in your own wallet, and you are inside the seizure clause and outside the redemption clause. Note that the prior draft's second complaint — that PayPal's 1:1 zero-fee conversion does not reach on-chain coins — was WRONG and has been withdrawn: “Fee Table: Transferring a cryptocurrency Transfer Type Fee Receiving a crypto transfer No fee Transferring crypto to another PayPal or Venmo branded cryptocurrency account No fee Transferring crypto to an address outside of PayPal or Venmo You will be charged a cryptocurrency network fee, payable in the crypto you transfer, which varies.” The 1.5% applies only to PayPal's bundled one-step buy-and-transfer and transfer-and-sell flows. The real qualification on the PayPal leg is legal, not priced: the counterparty there is PayPal Digital, Inc., where “You do not own any specific, identifiable, Crypto Asset.” and “Crypto Assets, including PYUSD, are not insured by FDIC, SIPC or any other public or private insurer, including against cyber theft or theft by other means.”
Competitive position
Where PayPal USD (PYUSD) leads and where it trails
Rank on every objective dimension among the rows scored on it. A criterion in the top third of its pool is listed as a lead, the bottom third as a trail; the middle is neither. Popularity, size and commercial terms are not dimensions.
Availability#1 / 1114.0 of 20 · constant here
Published criteria#1 / 1115.3 of 30 · pool best
Friction#1 / 112.7 of 10 · constant here
Trust record#1 / 113.2 of 8 · constant here
Measured data#1 / 118.3 of 18 · constant here
Where PayPal USD (PYUSD) leads
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?#1 / 11
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?#1 / 11
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?#4 / 11
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?#2 / 11
Where it trailsNo criterion in the bottom third of its pool.
Closest alternatives
The 3 nearest rows by score
Nearest by published score in either direction. Each card states the criteria on which the two rows differ and the cost difference under the same scenario inputs; the compare arithmetic below shows why the higher one ranks higher.
USDC#2 of 11 · score 77 · 2.0 points behind
PayPal USD (PYUSD) leads on
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?8 vs 5
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?6 vs 4
USDC leads on
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?8 vs 4
Largest single reason PayPal USD (PYUSD) is ahead: published criteria (+1.6 display points).Scenario cost: USDC has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Ripple USD (RLUSD)#3 of 11 · score 75 · 4.0 points behind
PayPal USD (PYUSD) leads on
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?7 vs 5
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?8 vs 5
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?6 vs 5
Ripple USD (RLUSD) leads on
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?8 vs 4
Largest single reason PayPal USD (PYUSD) is ahead: published criteria (+4.2 display points).Scenario cost: Ripple USD (RLUSD) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
FDUSD (First Digital USD)#4 of 11 · score 62 · 17.0 points behind
PayPal USD (PYUSD) leads on
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?7 vs 2
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?8 vs 3
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?6 vs 4
FDUSD (First Digital USD) leads on
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?6 vs 4
Largest single reason PayPal USD (PYUSD) is ahead: published criteria (+17.4 display points).Scenario cost: FDUSD (First Digital USD) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Against #2
79 vs 77 · gap 2.0Why PayPal USD (PYUSD) ranks above USDC
DimensionThisUSDCGap share
Availability · 23% weight · constant here14.014.0same
Published criteria · 35% weight15.314.7+1.6, better
Friction · 12% weight · constant here2.72.7same
Trust record · 9% weight · constant here3.23.2same
Measured data · 21% weight · constant here8.38.3same
Published criterionThisUSDCPoints
Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? · w2885+2.69, better
What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · w2448−3.07, worse
Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? · w1864+1.15, better
Net7977+2.0
Your scenario
What PayPal USD (PYUSD) costs on your scenario
Conversion spread on your volume for a year. Excludes network gas and any withdrawal fee. Change an input and every figure recomputes from the published rate; the published rank does not move.
your cost/yr · default scenario — set your own
$1k a month × 12 months × 0% conversion spread = $0.00 / year
Your monthly volume · your input$1k
Conversion spread · published rate0%
Rate read from the provider’s published pricing ↗ on 29 September 2026.
your cost/yrCost is stated as your cost/yr in USD; it is never a yield, never annualised, and it does not enter the score.
$0.00
Under the default inputs · USDCategory median and cheapestNot statedOnly 2 of 11 rows publish a comparable price; a median and a cheapest row need at least 3.
8 of 11 rows in this ranking have no verified rate for this scenario and are absent from the median, not counted as free.
1 of 11 quote a zero fee that leaves costs out, so they are absent from the median and the cheapest row, not counted as free.
Evidence
Evidence read 29 September 2026
One row per published criterion: the page each strength was read from, its source type by domain, the reading date and whether the file and the published table agree. Open a row for the quote and the receipt.
4 of 4 cells scored
Score evidenceVerified4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from receipts
4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from a quoted, sourced receipt equal to the published strength.Public receiptsReading…4 quoted with a source URL
The receipt file has not been read yet.Evidence confidenceHighcoverage and corroboration, never freshness
4/4 criteria scored, with 4 dated sources quoted.RobustnessOne point from changingrank #1 to #2 across one-point re-runs
Whether the position holds when one criterion score is changed by one point and the ranking is run again. It is always a re-run of the ranking, never an estimate.The newest evidence read on the platform is 3 November 2026; this category's reading is older. The scores stand as read on 29 September 2026.
Reading the evidence ledger…
CriterionSourceTypeReadFreshnessStatusReceipt
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?strength 7 · weight 30Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?strength 8 · weight 28Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?strength 4 · weight 24Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?strength 6 · weight 18Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
- Control failure (PayPal USD (PYUSD) 6/10): a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.Scored by Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? · 18%
- Insolvency failure: the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.Scored by Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? · 30% (PayPal USD (PYUSD) 7/10)Scored by What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · 24% (PayPal USD (PYUSD) 4/10)
- Exit failure (PayPal USD (PYUSD) 8/10): you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.Scored by Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? · 28%
Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Custody failure, Regulatory failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.
Facts
facts, not scoresWhat the record publishes
- Pricing
- ISSUER SIDE, binding terms (https://
paxos .com /stablecoin-terms-conditions / → www.paxos.com/terms-and-conditions/stablecoin-terms-conditions, “Last Modified: June 30, 2026”, fetched 29 September 2026). Fee: §2.8.2.1 “Paxos will not charge you fees for redeeming USD Stablecoins.” Minimum: §2.7.4 “Paxos may require a minimum amount for redemption, which may be updated from time to time, equal to the minimum wire fee charged by your bank for the transaction.” Rate: §2.7.1 “ALL REDEMPTIONS WILL BE ON A ONE-FOR-ONE BASIS, NOTWITHSTANDING ANY CHANGE IN THE MARKET VALUE OF THE RESERVE ASSETS BACKING USD STABLECOINS.” A reserve fee accrues to the issuer, §2.8.1.2: “We will apply a fee to reserves backing USD Stablecoins, and you agree to pay us such fee as determined by an appropriate market rate, provided that no fee will be imposed that reduces the USD Stablecoin reserves to below the amount of USD Stablecoins outstanding.” The schedule itself is NOT on this page — §2.8.1.1 defers it: “An overview of our fees is set forth in the Paxos User Guide at https:// help .paxos .com or otherwise in a pricing supplement provided to you by Paxos separate from this USD Stablecoin Agreement” || RETAIL SIDE, https:// www .paypal .com /us /digital-wallet /manage-money /crypto /pyusd (fetched 29 September 2026): “There are no fees to buy, sell, hold or transfer PYUSD to eligible PayPal users.” and “You can buy and sell 1 PYUSD for 1 USD on PayPal.” || RETAIL SIDE, THE FULL FEE PAGE, https:// www .paypal .com /us /digital-wallet /paypal-consumer-fees (fetched 29 September 2026). Buy/sell table, general crypto: “1.00 - 74.99 USD” “2.20%”, “75.00 – 200.00 USD” “2.00%”, “200.01 – 1000.00 USD” “1.80%”, “1000.01 USD +” “1.50%”, followed by “The fees above do not apply to buying and selling PYUSD”. Transfers: “Receiving a crypto transfer” “No fee”; “Transferring crypto to another PayPal or Venmo branded cryptocurrency account” “No fee”; to an outside address “You will be charged a cryptocurrency network fee, payable in the crypto you transfer, which varies.” Bundled one-step flows ONLY: “For PYUSD, you will pay 1.5% on the USD value of the PYUSD that you transfer to your external wallet.” and “For PYUSD, you will pay 1.5% on the USD value of the PYUSD that you receive from your external wallet.” Disclosed but unquantified for PYUSD: “The exchange rate you’ll see before buying or selling crypto will also include a cryptocurrency conversion spread”. No minimum or maximum PYUSD amount is published on either PayPal page. || MARKETING HEADLINE, paxos.com/pyusd (fetched 29 September 2026): “Zero fees to convert PYUSD to USD with PayPal and Paxos”. || TYPED RATE (label, not a quote): spreadPct = 0 — i.e. a 0% spread on the par (one-for-one) redemption, resting on §2.8.2.1 and §2.7.1 above. The 1.5% applies only to the bundled one-step flows and is not typed.PayPal USD (PYUSD) — official pricing page ↗ · 29 September 2026 - Prices published in
- USDPayPal USD (PYUSD) — official pricing page ↗ · 29 September 2026
- Licences held
- Not published
- Compliance level
- partial
- Regulatory note
- VERIFIED THIS SESSION (19 August 2026): every quote below was re-fetched and matched character-exact against the page or PDF cited. SCORE MOVED 8 → 7 — see WHY 7 at the end. || CONTRACTING ENTITY. https://
paxos .com /stablecoin-terms-conditions / 308-redirects to www.paxos.com/terms-and-conditions/stablecoin-terms-conditions (HTTP 200, read 19 August 2026). - Supported chains
- Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum One, Stellar, Polygon, Ink, X Layer
- Markets served
- global
- Primary markets
- Not published
- Restricted markets
- Not published
- Operating limits
- Not published
- Availability note
- Not published
Legal entity on file: PayPal, placed in 3 products. Only confirmed entities are shown; nothing is inferred from the brand name.
If something goes wrong with PayPal USD (PYUSD): where to complain, and where to report a scam
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How this page is reviewed
Reviewed means this product in this category was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.
How we review · Review calendar · Corrections log · How we make money
History
What the record carries
Changes to published ranks are recorded in a ledger; every step and its cause is listed on the rank-history page. The entries below begin with the current verified snapshot, then the methodology versions whose changes applied to this category, newest first.
10 methodology entries
- 29 September 2026Current verified snapshot · methodology 2026.10.18Score 79, #1 of 11. 4 of 4 criteria scored. History starts here; earlier values are not interpolated.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.8When nothing serves your country, the list shown for reference is the published ranking · platform-wide- fixed The reference list shown when nothing serves your country is the published order with the published scores, and a build check now fails any such list out of that order or with a score the ranking does not publish.
- fixed The explorer prints an overall rank only for a row the published ranking holds; a country entrant such as Coinbase Commerce for US merchants shows no overall rank.
- changed Published orders do not move. Country results change only where nothing serves the country: in India bill pay keeps Bitcoin Well first and now shows Strike second, as published; 35 such runs across all categories and countries now match the published list exactly.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.6A criterion you require re-scores the rows that meet it · platform-wide- changed The explorer sends each criterion you require, at any band, as fit_required with your other answers; region, licence, chain and fact filters stay filters. On /best, a required criterion joins For you as a marked preference does, which needs your country; Overall stays the published ranking, filtered.
- added Every published criterion has a golden case as the explorer sends it (require:<criterion>), so the order a requirement gives is replayed and gated as the published order is, and a change to it needs an entry here.
- 1 October 2026
2026.10.0Layer-2 chains are ranked on whether you can leave with your funds- added Four l2_chains criteria with published band ladders: proof system (18), withdrawals if the operator stops (18), rollup stage (14) and exit window before an upgrade (6). EVM equivalence moves 40 to 17, Ethereum data availability 25 to 15 and maturity 35 to 12. Every chain's emergency exit window reads None, so the exit-window ladder also reads L2BEAT's regular, non-emergency upgrade path (Arbitrum One 10 days, Starknet and Arbitrum Nova 7, zkSync Era 4 days 3 hours); data availability separates full transaction data (10) from state diffs only (9, L2BEAT: Onchain (SD)). A stage L2BEAT marks Under review keeps its last score for at most one 45-day cycle and is never interpolated.
- changed l2_chains ranks through scoreCriterionObjective on fitStrength, like the other criterion-ranked categories; the hand-written structural scorer is deleted. All 105 criterion scores across 15 rows carry a quote and source in research-pending/rereads/2026-10-01-l2_chains.json; 131 of 135 quotes re-fetched verbatim on the read date, and the four behind a bot wall or a JavaScript shell were read by the adversarial model run.
- fixed Four facts corrected on the read: Scroll, Mantle and Blast are EVM-compatible, not equivalent (their own documentation, and for Blast live RPC probes); Starknet's public mainnet opened to users in 2022, not 2021. Arbitrum Nova's data has gone to Ethereum as blobs since 31 August 2026, and the row now leads with the Arbitrum DAO's decision to minimise it.
- fixed The old scorer credited Ethereum data availability whenever the data-availability text contained the word "ethereum", so Arbitrum Nova's committee ("…Ethereum L1 rollup fallback") and Polygon zkEVM's off-chain data ("…Ethereum L1 before the sunset") both scored full marks. Data availability is now a quoted L2BEAT reading.
Methodology 2026.10.18, the same published run every visitor sees · receipt stablecoins:pyusd:2026.10.18:1e2308e3f28a
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Editorial review of PYUSD , on file since April 2026 — the review is separate from the score.