PayPal pushes stablecoin PYUSD to 70 countries while its business model faces fresh headwinds

PayPal has pushed its dollar-backed digital coin into 70 countries, a move the company says could make cross-border payments faster and cheaper for people who need it most. But the announcement lands as PayPal deals with a securities lawsuit and a quiet split from Google Wallet in Germany.

Starting this month, customers in 70 nations can store PYUSD directly in their PayPal accounts. May Zabaneh, the company’s senior vice president and head of crypto, told Fortune about the expansion. The list covers markets across South America, Africa, and Asia, including Uganda, Colombia, and Peru. It draws from the roughly 200 countries where PayPal does business.

Before now, only American and British users could hold the coin.

Holding PYUSD abroad also comes with a perk. Users will earn rewards on their balances, just as U.S. customers already do. The rate in the U.S. stands at 4% per year.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies tied to a real-world asset, in most cases, the U.S. dollar. People who back them say the coins can cut the cost of sending money from one country to another. Zabaneh wants PYUSD to deliver on that promise for a much wider group of users.

Look at how things currently work in Peru. PayPal users there can only take money out in Peruvian sol. Say someone in New York sends $10 to a contact in Lima. That person has to absorb a cross-border fee and collect the funds in local currency. PYUSD lets both sender and receiver hold the money in what is essentially U.S. dollars, which brings those fees down.

Other countries have a different but equally frustrating limitation. In Malawi, PayPal doesn’t let users keep incoming transfers in their wallets at all. The money lands in their bank account automatically. With PYUSD now available, they can hold it in PayPal instead.

“It unlocks a balance-type concept in these accounts and an earnings concept,” Zabaneh said.

The global push is one piece of a bigger plan to work PYUSD into more of PayPal’s operations. Businesses on PayPal’s payouts platform, YouTube being one example, can now opt to receive payments in the stablecoin. The company has also run tests using PYUSD to shift funds between its own entities in different countries.

PYUSD’s market value has grown sharply over the past twelve months, climbing more than five times to hit $4.1 billion, per CoinGecko data. PayPal first released the token in summer 2023, though it had to pause briefly after a New York financial regulator raised questions about its launch partner. When the expansion news broke, PayPal stock ended the session at $45.42, gaining 1.16%.

Investors sue over earnings miss and CEO departure

The upbeat announcement comes while the company is navigating serious legal pressure. A class action suit has been filed against PayPal Holdings on behalf of investors who bought shares between February 25, 2025, and February 2, 2026.

At the center of the case is a weak earnings report covering the fourth quarter and full year 2025, which PayPal published on February 3, 2026. That same day, the company’s chief executive left.

The stock dropped 20% in one trading session, taking more than $9 billion off PayPal’s market value. National law firm Hagens Berman is looking into whether the company violated federal securities laws and is calling on investors who lost money to report their losses.

PayPal to block new Google Wallet links in Germany

There is also a change coming for PayPal users in Germany who pay in stores through Google Wallet. From March 31, 2026, no new PayPal accounts can be connected to Google Wallet there.

Anyone who already has the link set up can keep using it, but the moment they change phones, reset their device, or break the connection in any way, it cannot be put back together. PayPal has stayed quiet on the reasons, but people following the payments industry think the company is angling to get customers using its own app for contactless purchases going forward.