This article comes fromBloombergBloomberg

Odaily Translator | Nian Yin Si Tang

, by Mark Gurman & Jenny Surane

Odaily Translator | Nian Yin Si Tang

Payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc. said it is exploring launching its own stablecoin as part of an expansion of its cryptocurrency business. The company confirmed the development after someone found evidence of the move in its iPhone app.

“We are exploring a stablecoin. We will of course work closely with relevant regulators if we seek to move forward,” Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s senior vice president of encryption and digital currencies, said in a statement to Bloomberg News. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies backed and priced by the value of an existing currency or commodity.

Developer Steve Moser first spotted evidence of the company's exploration of building a stablecoin in PayPal's app and shared it with Bloomberg. Hidden codes and images reveal a work dubbed "PayPal Coin." The code suggests that the stablecoin will be backed by the U.S. dollar.

A PayPal spokesperson said the images and code in the PayPal app originated from a recent internal hackathon — where engineers worked together in the company’s blockchain, encryption and digital currency division to rapidly explore and build on what might have never been done before. A new product released to the public. This means that the final logo, name and functionality may change in the form of a public release.

PayPal has made a major cryptocurrency effort in recent months, rolling out new features for buying and holding digital currencies, as well as the ability to use those currencies to make purchases.

On the Unchained podcast, Fernandez da Ponte recently stated that the company "has yet to see a stablecoin designed specifically for payments." He further said that for the use of PayPal, stablecoins need to support large-scale payments and be secure.

"There has to be clarity on the regulation, the regulatory framework and the type of licenses that are required in this space," he said.

In fact, several major payment giants such as PayPal have already changed their views on the encryption industry.ReportOn December 16 last year, New York-based research firm MoffettNathanson reported in a

Report

Zhong told customers that Visa, Mastercard and PayPal do not see the rise of the crypto industry as a threat and will continue to invest in the crypto ecosystem.

The report highlights the growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies by legacy payment service companies and highlights their efforts to adapt to the changing environment.

Visa sees the significance of cryptocurrencies beyond payments, seeing it as a second-layer solution that can run on blockchain networks, just as the company has done with fiat-based networks. Terry Angelos, Visa senior vice president and global head of fintech, said that through the partnership with the crypto wallet, the company expects to see strong growth in transaction volumes in the next one to two years.

Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president of blockchain and digital asset products at Mastercard, said that Mastercard benefits from cross-border cryptocurrency flows in and out of cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets, and sees cryptocurrencies as an opportunity to create new products. The company also intends to become an onramp to the NFT market and add cryptocurrencies to its multi-rail network as the native currency for settlement.At the same time, PayPal is investing in education-related projects, hoping to reach a wider audience. The company is also working on opening up its platform to allow interaction with DeFi networks and enable users to securely transfer cryptocurrencies through digital wallets, said Edwin Aoki, a technical researcher and chief technology officer for blockchain encryption and digital currencies at the company.Additionally, PayPal now