PYUSD Achieves $1 Billion Milestone with Dominance on Solana
By: Eliza Bennet
PayPal's stablecoin, PYUSD, has marked a significant milestone by surpassing $1 billion in market capitalization as reported by CoinGecko data. On a social media post, PYUSD's issuance by Paxos was celebrated, emphasizing the rapidity of this milestone compared to its competitors like USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT). According to the data, it took just 351 days for PYUSD to hit the $1 billion mark, whereas USDC and USDT required 616 and 1024 days, respectively.
Interestingly, most of PYUSD's market value is concentrated on the Solana blockchain, a strategic move PayPal embarked upon three months ago. On-chain data reveals that around $647 million of PYUSD is deployed on Solana, with $430 million locked as collateral on the lending platform Kamino. The alluring annual percentage yield (APY) of 13.63% -- and up to 14.6% with bonuses -- at Kamino is a significant driver of these allocations.
The second primary use of PYUSD lies in the liquidity pool USDC/PYUSD at the decentralized exchange Orca, which locks in around $50.4 million. On Ethereum, the majority of PYUSD is involved in a FRAX/PYUSD liquidity pool on Curve Finance, pooling $19.5 million.
Competitive Landscape
Despite its noteworthy growth, PYUSD's path remains competitive. Within Solana’s ecosystem, despite its steady rise, PYUSD still trails behind USDT, which leads by $76 million. However, with a growth rate of 171% over the past 30 days compared to USDT's 1.35% decline, PYUSD could soon close this gap.
Moreover, USDC remains substantially larger, boasting a market value of $2.5 billion, nearly four times that of PYUSD within Solana’s ecosystem.
Broadly across the stablecoin market, PYUSD ranks behind five other tokens in market capitalization. The sector is predominantly led by USDT with an almost $118 billion market cap. USDC follows with nearly $35 billion, and DAI occupies the third spot with over $5.1 billion. First Digital USD stands at $3.1 billion, and Ethena USDe rounds out the top group with a $2.9 billion market size.
