In a recent investment move, PayPal Ventures has invested $6.5 million in Mesh, a company specializing in digital transaction security and efficiency. $5 million of the investment was paid out in PayPal’s stablecoin, PYUSD. The investment marks PayPal Ventures’ first known crypto investment since May 2023. Mesh is developing a product that allows users to move crypto between different financial accounts and wallets, and has been compared to Plaid for its capabilities. The reason for PayPal Ventures’ choice to invest in stablecoins instead of fiat currency is not immediately clear. Mesh CEO Bam Azizi praised the security and low cost of PYUSD compared to wire transfers.
This investment marks PayPal Ventures’ continued interest in the crypto space. In December and January, proposals were made for PayPal’s stablecoin to be deployed on DeFi protocols Aave and Curve by Paxos, the issuer of PYUSD. Despite some speculation about further development of PYUSD, PayPal’s CEO did not mention the stablecoin in a recent announcement video. PYUSD currently ranks as the eleventh-largest stablecoin by market capitalization.
