PayPal announced the launch of cross-border dollar transfers with no fees using its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin. The service is available to users in the U.S. and involves outgoing transactions only.
Representatives of Xoom, PayPal’s cross-border money transfer service, announced that U.S. users, excluding residents of Hawaii, are now able to send money to about 160 countries with no transaction fees. The stablecoin PYUSD will be used to make such payments.
The service went live on April 4, 2024.
The process of making payments involves Xoom converting PYUSD in PayPal Cryptocurrency Hub into U.S. dollars with no crypto sale fees, with recipients receiving funds in fiat chosen by the sender. When converting from U.S. dollars to the recipient’s currency, the most favorable exchange rate is used, according to the current spread.
The new service allows users to send dollars to:
- to a bank account;
- to a mobile wallet address;
- to a financial institution’s balance.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Senior VP of the Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Currency Group at PayPal, said in a press release that the ability to use PYUSD for cross-border transfers is meant to encourage mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. In addition, the initiative is designed to strengthen user confidence in the PYUSD stablecoin, create a consistent value for it, and ensure its usefulness in online commerce and payments.
According to Ripple representatives’ estimates, the stablecoin market could grow to $2.8 trillion over the next four years. Meanwhile, Chainalysis reports that about 60% of all illegal crypto transactions in 2023 were made using stablecoins.
