Paxos Erroneously Mints and Burns $300 Trillion in PayPal’s PYUSD Stablecoin
Stablecoin issuer Paxos executed a dramatic operational error on Wednesday, accidentally minting $300 trillion worth of PayPal’s PYUSD—six zeros beyond the intended $300 million. Blockchain data confirmed the mishap, with Etherscan records showing the erroneous minting and subsequent corrective burn within minutes.
The incident highlights the fragility of even tightly controlled stablecoin systems. Unlike irreversible crypto transfers, issuers like Paxos retain recovery mechanisms—burning misprinted tokens or clawing back erroneous transactions. This mirrors Tether’s 2019 $5 billion over-issuance, later rectified.
Market observers noted the rapid correction but questioned oversight protocols. Stablecoins, designed as digital dollar proxies, face heightened scrutiny for operational resilience. The PYUSD flub underscores the tension between blockchain’s Immutable ledger and centralized issuers’ error-correction powers.
