PayPal Eyes Layer-2 Network And NFT After Launching PYUSD Stablecoin

Payments giant PayPal is looking to dip its toes in layer-2 network and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), according to its latest patent filings.

The company is not sitting idly while crypto businesses score significant profits in layer-2 networks, metaverse, crypto and NFTs.

PayPal's research and development team is reportedly focused on blockchain validation, payments between network layers and even digital asset recommendation in the metaverse. These are just some of the areas the financial payments giant is looking into, according to the company's patent filings.

The applications, initially filed in March 2022 and published Thursday, detail how to select mines or validators while adding transactions to a blockchain. One of the documents mentioned how PayPal's method could "advantageously allow steering of blockchain requests to a desired subset of miners/validators."

Three other patent filings, published on Sept. 21, mentioned new methods to allow off-chain transitions through non-fungible token marketplaces. They talk about a system where users can purchase or sell NFTs using a third-party service provider.

"The NFT in this example may represent any unique piece of digital data that can be tracked using a decentralized blockchain ledger," the patent filing read. "Examples of such assets include [...] digital images and videos, music, collectibles, and other digital art along with deeds to personal property, event tickets, legal documents and other real-world items."

Another application talks about an "omnivese," which could be a platform involving several metaverses.

The documents revealed PayPal has built an "online transaction processor" that would offer recommendations to users based on their blockchain references, including the kind of metaverse they interact with the most.

They also describe the concept of an online transaction processor, with a goal to facilitate payments between users and merchants operating on different layers.

The newly published patent applications surfaced as PayPal expands its portfolio of crypto products and services.

In August, the financial payments giant rolled out its PYUSD stablecoin, the dollar-pegged crypto asset issued by the blockchain infrastructure firm Paxos – the same issuer behind the Binance USD (BUSD).

PayPal also confirmed its plan to enter the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem last month.

"I think DeFi will be part of the first wave in the sense that we want to go where crypto users are using stablecoins today, and DeFi is a use case for that. As of today, you can only get PYUSD on the PayPal wallet," Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal's senior vice president of blockchain, crypto and digital currencies, said in an interview with Laura Shin, the popular host of the YouTube channel "Unchained Podcast."

"We are ramping up the product but definitely, the intention is that it will be available in main exchanges and when that distribution is available, then folks will be able to use it for the traditional use cases," he added.