YouTube has provided US-based video creators with the ability to receive payments in PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin, Fortune was told by Mei Zabaneh, head of PayPal's cryptocurrency division. The feature is already operational and available within PayPal's existing mass payout service, which YouTube uses to settle payments with freelance performers and partners.
"The beauty is that YouTube itself does not interact with cryptocurrency, and we handle all the technical complexities," Zabaneh explained.
PYUSD is the fifth-largest stablecoin. Its market capitalization has increased 8-fold over the year, from $490 million to $4 billion, according to CoinGecko. PayPal's stable token is catching up to Ethena's USDe ($6.5 billion), but both are significantly behind the market leaders: Tether's USDT ($186 billion) and Circle's USDC ($78.5 billion).
Other stablecoin issuers and payment companies are also trying to expand their user base through similar partnerships with media platforms. For example, Tether is promoting itself through Rumble, YouTube's main competitor. The service is testing the integrated Rumble Wallet, the launch of which for everyone is scheduled for the end of this year.
In November, it became known that Visa is testing stablecoin payouts for content creators and freelancers. The pilot project allows companies to send payments directly to users' crypto wallets. Recipients can choose stablecoins, for example, USDC.
The USD1 stablecoin from the Trump family-linked crypto project World Liberty Financial is developing through a partnership with the largest crypto exchange, Binance. On Thursday, December 11th, World Liberty announced that the exchange had expanded support for USD1, adding zero-fee trading pairs for it with leading cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Solana, and BNB.
The exchange will also convert all collateral assets backing its BUSD stablecoin to USD1 at a 1:1 ratio over the course of a week. Binance stated that this will make USD1 "an integral part of Binance's updated collateral structure, further strengthening the stablecoin's position in the exchange's ecosystem."
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