YouTube Now Lets U.S. Creators Get Paid in PayPal’s PYUSD Stablecoin
YouTube creators in the U.S. can now choose to receive their earnings in PYUSD, PayPal’s dollar-backed stablecoin—a move that quietly pulls one of the world’s biggest creator platforms deeper into crypto.
PayPal’s head of crypto, May Zabaneh, told Fortune that the feature is already live for U.S. users. A Google spokesperson confirmed the update but didn’t share further details.
YouTube already uses PayPal for mass payouts to creators, gig workers, and contractors, so extending PYUSD to creator earnings fits neatly into its existing system.
Big Tech Leans Further Into Tokenized Money
Earlier this year, PayPal added an option allowing payout recipients to take their money in PYUSD instead of cash. YouTube has now adopted that same choice for creators who earn revenue from ads and subscriptions.
Zabaneh explained that PayPal manages everything on the crypto side. YouTube still pays PayPal in dollars, and PayPal converts those payouts into PYUSD for creators who opt in—meaning YouTube doesn’t need to deal with crypto’s technical or regulatory complexities.
This update comes as Big Tech companies increasingly experiment with stablecoins and tokenized money, fueled by a renewed wave of crypto interest in Silicon Valley. For YouTube, offering stablecoin payouts is an easy toggle that adds flexibility for creators without changing the core platform.
Stablecoins Go Mainstream Amid New Rules and Big Deals
Stablecoins like PYUSD track assets such as the U.S. dollar and have long been central to crypto markets. But over the past year, they’ve pushed into mainstream finance—helped by new federal stablecoin legislation signed by President Donald Trump, plus several high-profile industry deals.
One example: payments giant Stripe bought stablecoin firm Bridge for $1.1 billion earlier this year.
PayPal has been ahead of the curve. It launched PYUSD in 2023 after enabling crypto buying and selling in 2020. The token now has a market cap close to $4 billion, per CoinGecko, and sits at the center of PayPal’s on-chain strategy.
PYUSD Continues to Expand Across the PayPal Ecosystem
PayPal has been steadily weaving PYUSD into more parts of its ecosystem. Users can hold it in the PayPal and Venmo apps, spend it at supported merchants, and—starting this year—use it for business payments to vendors.
YouTube’s adoption pushes PYUSD even further, giving millions of creators the option to take their payouts in a stablecoin instead of a traditional bank transfer.
This also isn’t Google’s first time touching PYUSD. A Google Cloud executive previously confirmed that the division accepted PYUSD as payment from two customers, showing the company is open to using stablecoins when they fit into existing business contracts.
