Key Highlights
- PayPal launched PYUSD in August 2023, but the stock has remained weak even as the stablecoin expanded its use cases.
- PYPL closed near $41.65 on Feb. 20, with shares down sharply over the past year and nearly 29% YTD, per market data.
- Investors are still pricing in broader PayPal turnaround risks, including weak outlook concerns and management turbulence.
PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) shares remained under pressure for over a year, with PYPL trading around $41.65 on Feb. 20, 2026, according to market data. The weakness stands out because it comes during PayPal’s biggest crypto product push in years.
At that time, PYPL was trading at $60, making a 30% drop since the company launched its stablecoin.
At the time of writing, the stock was down 46.35% from its 52-week high and 28.66% year-to-date, while PayPal’s investor relations data reflected the stock trading in the low-$40 range in recent sessions.
PYUSD launch and expansion
PayPal introduced PayPal USD (PYUSD) in August 2023 as a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin designed for payments and transfers, issued by Paxos and backed by dollar deposits, short-term U.S. Treasuries, and similar cash equivalents.
The launch was widely seen as a major step for crypto adoption in mainstream fintech, with PayPal becoming one of the first large payment firms to issue its own stablecoin.
Since then, PayPal has continued to expand the product rather than treat it as a one-time announcement. The company later rolled out PYUSD support on Arbitrum to improve speed and lower costs, and it also announced plans to bring PYUSD to Stellar, subject to regulatory approval.
These moves gave PYUSD a clearer multi-chain payments narrative and strengthened PayPal’s long-term crypto positioning.
Why investors still haven’t re-rated PYPL
Despite these developments, the stock market has largely treated that progress as secondary.
Instead of re-rating PayPal on its crypto strategy, investors have stayed focused on the company’s core business performance, particularly checkout growth, margins, and execution. In recent months, PYPL has continued to trade well below levels seen before and around the PYUSD launch period, reinforcing the view that product innovation alone is not enough to shift sentiment.
This disconnect became even more visible after PayPal’s recent results and forward guidance disappointed markets. The selloff following weak outlook commentary and leadership changes added to pressure on the stock. It also highlighted the main issue for investors: PayPal’s crypto push may be strategically important, but Wall Street still wants stronger evidence of core-business momentum.
A social media post circulating this week captured that gap by tying PayPal’s past “shock the world” messaging to the stock’s decline during the PYUSD era. While the post is commentary, the broader takeaway reflects current market sentiment. PayPal’s stablecoin strategy has advanced, but the stock remains tied to execution in its main payments business.
Why it matters
PayPal’s PYUSD rollout remains one of the clearest examples of a mainstream fintech adopting stablecoin infrastructure at scale. But the company’s share-price performance shows a key market lesson: crypto product expansion can strengthen long-term positioning without immediately improving the stock narrative.
For investors, the question is no longer whether PayPal can build in crypto. It is whether those products can eventually drive revenue growth, user activity, and profitability in a way that changes how the market values PYPL.
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