PayPal applies for Utah industrial bank license to form PayPal Bank

PayPal operates the U.S. dollar stablecoin PYUSD in partnership with Paxos Trust Company and said the banking effort is designed to expand access to credit while integrating with existing payments rails. In its statement, President and CEO Alex Chriss said access to capital remains a hurdle for smaller firms: “Securing capital remains a significant hurdle for small businesses striving to grow and scale.” He added that creating PayPal Bank would “strengthen our business and improve our efficiency,” enabling broader support for U.S. small‑business growth.

Utah‑chartered industrial banks are supervised by state and federal regulators and, according to the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, are subject to oversight comparable to commercial banks, but their parent companies are not regulated under the Bank Holding Company Act. That structure can allow a wider range of commercial affiliations while maintaining prudential requirements on the bank itself. PayPal said the proposed institution would work with card networks and operate within existing consumer‑protection and safety‑and‑soundness rules.

The company’s crypto features have expanded during 2025. PayPal enabled wallet‑to‑wallet transfers for supported digital assets and introduced personalized links for sending or requesting funds in crypto. It also launched “Pay with Crypto” for merchant services, acting as an intermediary that converts customer holdings at checkout while merchants receive funds through standard settlement channels.

PayPal’s licensing push comes alongside movement among other crypto‑related financial firms. In recent weeks, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted initial trust charters to several companies focused on digital assets, including Circle and Paxos, as well as Ripple, BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets, providing additional federally supervised options for custody and settlement.

As GNcrypto reported on 12 December 2025, YouTube enabled U.S. creators who are paid via PayPal to receive earnings in PayPal USD (PYUSD), a dollar‑pegged stablecoin issued by PayPal. YouTube does not hold crypto; PayPal provides the stablecoin infrastructure, allowing creators to keep PYUSD, convert to dollars, or send on‑chain. The rollout followed the GENIUS Act, which set a federal framework for dollar‑backed stablecoins, and came as PYUSD surpassed $3 billion in market value and expanded to additional networks via LayerZero.