Paxos Renames Standard Stablecoin as Pax Dollar

USDP's updated smart contract will go live on Aug. 31.

AccessTimeIconAug 24, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:44 p.m. UTC
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Blockchain infrastructure company Paxos is renaming its Paxos standard stablecoin as Pax dollar with the ticker USDP.

  • Paxos believes the USDP ticker more easily identifies the stablecoin as a U.S. dollar-backed token, Walter Hessert, head of strategy, said in a blog post Tuesday.
  • "USDP reserves are held 100% in cash and cash equivalents. ... This names makes it obvious to anyone – USDP is a dollar," Hessert wrote.
  • Paxos asked its ecosystem partners to reflect the stablecoin's new branding ahead of the updated smart contract going live on Aug. 31.
  • "USDP is an important step towards making regulated digital dollars ubiquitous," Hessert wrote. "Stablecoins have the ability to transform global payments and USDP is the regulated solution."
  • The announcement follows shortly after Circle's confirmation that USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, will be 100% backed by cash and short-term U.S. Treasurys by September.
  • There remains however some opacity around the composition of USDT provider Tether's reserves. A breakdown released in May revealed that some 49% of tokens USDT tokens were backed by unspecified commercial paper.
  • USDT nonetheless remains by far the world's largest stablecoin, with a market capitalization of over $65 billon. USDP's is $944 million.

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