Payments giant PayPal’s new stablecoin PYUSD has failed to gain traction in the weeks following its launch.
According to a report from The Block, citing data from crypto data firm Nansen, only a small number of people are using and holding PYUSD in self-custody wallets.
“On the surface there’s a lack of demand from crypto users for PYUSD when other alternatives exist,” said Nansen in a report.
Nansen found that smart money holders appear to be avoiding the stablecoin, with its issuer Paxos still holding 90% of its supply in custody. Meanwhile, centralized exchanges like Kraken, Gate.io and Crypto.com hold 7% of the token’s supply.
Moreover, data shows that outside of smart contracts or exchanges, just ten holders of the stablecoin held a balance of more than $1,000. The largest PYUSD holder reportedly bought the stablecoin after dabbling in three different memecoins first.
Some DeFi users opined that the lack of enthusiasm might have to do with its lack of utility and the fact that there are currently no ways to earn interest on the stablecoin. When one X user “@DeFiMoon” suggested that Curve Finance should introduce PYUSD and CrvUSD pool to boost incentives, the DeFi protocol replied saying that the inability to mint and send PYUSD would be a barrier.
Yesser, but _that_ is not a problem.
Problem is – try to mint pyUSD. You cannot mint and send (yet)!
— Curve Finance (@CurveFinance) August 26, 2023
PYUSD utilizes Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard and can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies on PayPal. According to a Dune dashboard created by TK Research, the stablecoin currently has a supply of over 40 million tokens.
