PayPal broadened access to its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to facilitate cross-border payments across Asian and African markets.
PayPal, the leading electronic payment system, announced that its financial partners will be able to use PYUSD for cross-border money transfers via the Xoom infrastructure, PayPal’s subsidiary, also an electronic money transfer provider.
According to the press release, the initiative aims to expand access to digital financial solutions in African and Asia-Pacific markets while enabling international transactions with PYUSD outside traditional banking hours. The first partners to access cross-border payment processing through PYUSD are Cebuana Lhuillier and Yellow Card.
Cebuana Lhuillier is the largest microfinance service provider in the Philippines. Yellow Card is the first and largest licensed stablecoin-to-fiat exchange service provider in Africa.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s Senior VP of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Currencies, said that cross-border transactions are a key driver of economic growth and prosperity in developing countries. The partnership between local FinTech companies and PayPal will ensure seamless cross-border remittance experiences.
“Locally, FinTech providers are essential for converting cryptocurrencies into what the user actually needs. Their importance lies in their familiarity to locals, ensuring the sender doesn’t worry about conversion post-receipt,” said Max Krupyshev, CEO of CryptoProcessing.com, commenting on the importance of local financial solution providers in the Purpose Driven FinTech podcast.
PayPal released its dollar-pegged stablecoin PYUSD in September 2023. In April this year, Xoom representatives announced a fee-free cross-border payment service for U.S. residents, excluding the state of Hawaii, enabling transfers to 160 countries using PYUSD.
