Getting paid on YouTube has always relied on conventional bank transfers, which often come with long wait times. Now, YouTube is letting U.S. creators get paid in PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin, and while it might seem like a small change, it points to a bigger trend: payouts across tech are slowly catching up to the speed of the internet.
With PYUSD, creators don’t have to rely entirely on slow bank transfers. Once the payout lands in your PayPal account, you can hold it as a stablecoin, convert it back to dollars, or move it somewhere else. It’s faster, more flexible, and gives creators more control over their earnings.
David Adubiina
Why does this new crypto payout method go beyond YouTube?
While this might sound like just another YouTube update, it actually reflects a broader movement of stablecoin adoption among institutions. Companies like Apple, Airbnb, and X (formerly Twitter) are experimenting with stablecoins for payouts, and YouTube’s PYUSD rollout is one of the first highly visible examples, showing that digital payments could soon operate outside traditional banks.
As PayPal's head of crypto, May Zabaneh put it, the goal is to remove complexity. “The beauty of what we’ve built is that YouTube doesn’t have to touch crypto,” he said, allowing PayPal to handle the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
But for all the flexibility PYUSD introduces, it’s not a universal solution yet. To start, the option is currently limited to U.S. creators who already use PayPal for YouTube payouts. Creators outside the U.S., or those paid through other methods, won’t see the option for now. That makes this more of a targeted rollout than a global shift.
Emmanuel Umahi
There’s also the distinction between stablecoins and traditional bank deposits. PYUSD is designed to track the U.S. dollar and is issued by PayPal under a regulated framework, but it’s still not the same as cash sitting in a bank account. Funds held as PYUSD don’t come with the same protections as insured bank deposits, which is an important consideration for creators managing larger balances.
Finally, while stablecoins reduce certain frictions, they don’t eliminate every cost or risk. Conversions, withdrawals, and transfers can still involve fees depending on how creators choose to move their funds. And for those unfamiliar with digital assets, there’s still a learning curve, even if PayPal handles most of the complexity. In other words, PYUSD isn't a one-size-fits-all replacement for existing payment options.
Why this matters for creators and big tech
Much more than the basic benefits stablecoins offer, for creators, it shows a future where money moves faster, travels across borders more easily, and doesn’t have to get stuck in slow banking systems.
For tech platforms, it’s proof that stablecoins can work without fully diving into crypto. If this test goes well, other companies might follow, and we could start seeing a bigger shift in how tech pays people—more control, less friction, faster access.
David Adubiina
