{"id":89944,"date":"2025-10-16T10:22:27","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T07:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=89944"},"modified":"2025-10-16T10:26:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T07:26:19","slug":"paxos-accidentally-mints-300-trillion-pyusd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/paxos-accidentally-mints-300-trillion-pyusd\/","title":{"rendered":"Paxos Accidentally Mints 300 Trillion PYUSD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On October 15, the infrastructure provider for <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-stablecoins\">stablecoins<\/a>, Paxos, inadvertently minted 300 trillion <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-paypals-pyusd-stablecoin\">PYUSD<\/a> for PayPal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At 3:12 PM EST, Paxos mistakenly minted excess PYUSD as part of an internal transfer. Paxos immediately identified the error and burned the excess PYUSD. <\/p>\n<p>This was an internal technical error. There is no security breach. Customer funds are safe. We have addressed the root\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Paxos (@Paxos) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Paxos\/status\/1978565015943950411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The company clarified that the issue was due to an internal technical error, not a hack. The problem was resolved within 30 minutes, with the firm burning all the coins and minting 300 million PYUSD.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The incident caused temporary disruptions in the operation of <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-decentralised-finance-defi\">DeFi<\/a> protocols. As a precautionary measure, <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-aave\">Aave<\/a> suspended operations with PayPal&#8217;s &#8220;stablecoin.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">PYUSD is operational and fully backed at a 1:1 ratio. <\/p>\n<p>Earlier today, 300 trillion was minted and subsequently burned. <\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve temporarily frozen PYUSD markets on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aave?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@aave<\/a> as we investigate the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Funds are safe! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2x0QyvrJ7d\">pic.twitter.com\/2x0QyvrJ7d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Omer Goldberg (@omeragoldberg) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/omeragoldberg\/status\/1978556904512094333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As a result, the PYUSD briefly lost its peg to the US dollar but quickly recovered after the error was corrected.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-b46be74c4c3557ec-6991895783131411-1024x600.png\" alt=\"image\" class=\"wp-image-267629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-b46be74c4c3557ec-6991895783131411-1024x600.png 1024w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-b46be74c4c3557ec-6991895783131411-300x176.png 300w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-b46be74c4c3557ec-6991895783131411-768x450.png 768w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-b46be74c4c3557ec-6991895783131411-1536x899.png 1536w, https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-b46be74c4c3557ec-6991895783131411.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hourly chart of PYUSD\/USD on Kraken. Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/ru.tradingview.com\/chart\/?symbol=KRAKEN%3APYUSDUSD\">TradingView<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The volume was several times higher than the current US national debt ($37 trillion) and global GDP ($117 trillion), and comparable to the total global debt.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Paxos just minted $300 trillion <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%24PYUSD&#038;src=ctag&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">$PYUSD<\/a> on Ethereum.<\/p>\n<p>This is equivalent to the entire global debt. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CEpQG2df0m\">pic.twitter.com\/CEpQG2df0m<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ted (@TedPillows) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TedPillows\/status\/1978545106438291945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Users were <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Sorenthek\/status\/1978604307546071130\">alarmed<\/a> that a &#8220;backed asset can be issued without actual backing.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;But an even more troubling aspect is this: if the issuer can so easily create tokens &#8216;out of thin air,&#8217; what prevents them from arbitrarily destroying any coins in the system\u2014even legitimate ones? By purchasing PYUSD, we are forced to blindly trust the company not to burn our tokens\u2014neither by mistake nor intentionally,&#8221;<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DubDublin\/status\/1978615718305223012\"><em>added<\/em><\/a><em> one user.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stablecoin Errors\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Similar errors have occurred in the past. In 2019, the company behind USDT, Tether, accidentally issued 5 billion coins on the <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-tron-trx\">TRON<\/a> blockchain and immediately destroyed them. The issuer was supposed to mint 50 million tokens for the Bitcoin exchange Poloniex instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In May 2021, crypto lender BlockFi mistakenly <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/blockfi-mistakenly-credited-clients-with-bitcoin-and-demanded-its-return\">credited<\/a> large amounts in Bitcoin to clients&#8217; accounts and demanded the return of the cryptocurrency. The issue was related to a promotion that involved payouts in GUSD stablecoins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In December 2022, during a transaction on the <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-a-decentralised-exchange-dex\">decentralized exchange<\/a> DeversiFi for 100,000 <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-tether-usdt\">USDT<\/a> on the Ethereum network, the gas fee <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bitfinex-paid-23-5-million-in-fees-to-transfer-100000-usdt-miner-returned-the-funds\">amounted to<\/a> $23.7 million. This was a mistake\u2014the miner later fully refunded the funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In September this year, Paxos <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/paxos-to-launch-stablecoin-for-hyperliquid-ecosystem\">introduced<\/a> a proposal to launch USDH, the first &#8220;stablecoin&#8221; in the <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/the-price-of-popularity-and-a-lesson-for-all-hyperliquid\">Hyperliquid<\/a> lineup. However, the competition was <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/native-markets-secures-usdh-ticker-for-hyperliquid\">won<\/a> by the issuer Native Markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 15, the infrastructure provider for stablecoins, Paxos, inadvertently minted 300 trillion PYUSD for PayPal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"The volume was several times higher than the current US national debt and global GDP.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1504,182,1481,807],"class_list":["post-89944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-paxos","tag-paypal","tag-pyusd","tag-stablecoins"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"304","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"The volume was several times higher than the current US national debt and global GDP.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89946,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89944\/revisions\/89946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}