In December 2025, PayPal has taken a historic step by applying for an industrial banking license in Utah to establish the "PayPal Bank". This news is not just a commercial expansion move; it is the heart of a strategy to transform its digital asset, the PYUSD, from a technological experiment into a backbone of global payments.
Banking as a Capitalization Engine
The reflection that PayPal is seeking greater market capitalization is completely accurate. By becoming a bank, PayPal can:
* Integrate PYUSD into loans and savings: With the new license, the bank could offer savings accounts with interest and loans for SMEs using PYUSD.
* Generate institutional trust: The supervision of the FDIC (in process) and banking regulators eliminates the stigma of "crypto risk", attracting institutional capital that previously feared less regulated stablecoins.
* Interoperability: Being on networks like Solana, Ethereum, and now Arbitrum, PYUSD seeks to be the universal exchange currency in Web3.
The "Firm Ground" of 2026
By 2026, if the license is approved, PYUSD will not only have casual users but will also be part of the balance sheets of thousands of companies using PayPal's credit services. This guarantees a liquidity floor (a constant minimum transaction volume) that few stablecoins possess.
The Necessary Nuance: Price Increase or Value Increase?
Here is where we must be precise in the article. Unlike Bitcoin, the success of PYUSD is not measured by an increase in its price above $1.00 USD, but by:
* Stability of the Peg (Anchoring): That it is always worth exactly one dollar, even in market crises.
* Growth of Market Cap: That there are more coins in circulation (currently around $840 million, far from the trillions of USDT).
* Value of the Stock (PYPL): It is likely that the "price increase" you mention will be reflected in the shares of PayPal Holdings Inc., as the market will reward the efficiency and profitability of its banking-crypto ecosystem.
Conclusion
We can affirm that PayPal's banking strategy seeks to establish PYUSD as the gold standard of regulated stablecoins. By 2026, the goal is not for PYUSD to "rise in price" like a volatile stock, but for its mass adoption to make PayPal the ultimate bridge between traditional money and the future.