PayPal delivered stronger-than-expected second-quarter results, but one of the biggest takeaways wasn’t its earnings beat—it was the company’s continued push to turn PYUSD into a key pillar of its payments business.
The fintech giant reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.38, above Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $1.28. Revenue reached $8.68 billion, while total payment volume climbed 10% year-over-year to $486.4 billion, reflecting steady demand across its payments ecosystem.
Not everything moved in the right direction. PayPal said strategic investments in crypto assets reduced GAAP earnings per share by roughly $0.07 during the quarter. The company also reported lower operating income compared to the same period last year, although management emphasized that the pressure came largely from accounting treatment rather than weakness in the core business.
The crypto portfolio itself remains relatively modest compared to PayPal’s overall balance sheet. Customer holdings under custody totaled roughly $499 million in Bitcoin and $362 million in Ether, while separately held strategic crypto investments generated the temporary earnings headwind.
PYUSD is becoming increasingly important to PayPal
Where PayPal appears far more aggressive is with PYUSD, its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. Since launching on Ethereum in 2023, the token has expanded to Solana, Arbitrum, Stellar, and now Polygon, where it became a native asset earlier this year.
The Polygon integration is particularly important because it allows PayPal to process transactions on a network built for lower fees and faster settlement than Ethereum’s main chain. According to the company, Polygon already supports billions of dollars in stablecoin settlements every day, making it an attractive infrastructure layer for global payments.
PayPal is also trying to increase adoption through incentives. PYUSD is now available in 70 markets, and eligible users can earn 4% yield on balances held within the PayPal app. The company believes these features will encourage customers to keep funds inside its ecosystem while making cross-border payments and merchant settlements more efficient.
Investors welcomed the results. Alongside the earnings beat, PayPal raised its full-year 2026 guidance for non-GAAP transaction margin dollars and earnings, signaling confidence that its payments business—and increasingly its stablecoin strategy—will contribute more meaningfully during the second half of the year.
For PayPal, PYUSD is no longer just another crypto product. It’s becoming part of the company’s broader effort to modernize global payments, lower settlement costs, and compete more directly in the rapidly growing stablecoin market.
