PayPal Exec Excited About NFTs, Stablecoins and Digital Identity

Despite crypto’s notorious volatility, PayPal’s leaders are confident in the future of blockchain tech

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • Regulation will be critical for cryptocurrency adoption, PayPal CEO says
  • Underserved communities are most likely to benefit from the development of blockchain technology

The future of our financial system is being redesigned in front of our eyes, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022. Rethinking the underlying rails of the existing financial system by taking out intermediaries, so that money can be moved faster and cheaper, has the potential to provide a more inclusive future.

The multinational online payments platform recently enabled its customers to transfer cryptocurrencies from its app to external wallets and exchanges. 

“We built a bridge between the fiat universe and the crypto universe,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, the company’s general manager for blockchain, crypto and digital currencies. Consumers will now have access to the wider Web3 network through their PayPal wallets, Fernandez da Ponte said at the conference.

Addressing the volatility of cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency is more volatile than many mainstream markets, and consequently, some fund managers have urged consumers to not invest in cryptocurrencies. 

Schulman says the key to managing market volatility is to have regulators protecting consumers. “Doing responsible innovation with the blessing of regulators is extremely important,” Schulman said. “You may not want it to be that way, but it has to be that way in order to evolve.”

Many people who sit outside the existing financial system or are underserved by the financial system are likely to benefit from money being moved on blockchain rails, Schulman said. Although Schulman believes that PayPal is not yet serving these communities, he is optimistic that it will.

“We are playing the long game, but you’re going to start seeing some significant changes over the next five years.”

Fernandez da Ponte says he is most excited about three things in the coming years: NFTs, stablecoins and digital identity.

As NFTs (non-fungible tokens) move to become a digital property right, they will gain a significant number of use cases, Fernandez da Ponte said. “Now I have a way to prove that I own something on-chain, that is a very significant development that we will see in the future.”

In the case of stablecoins, he believes merchants desiring large-scale sales operations must be willing to use digital currency — stablecoins could provide reliability for these future transactions. “I think we are close to having stablecoins at scale.”

Finally, digital identity will be critical to “prove who you are.” Despite the “really great work being done by the community, that one is probably a little bit further out,” Fernandez da Ponte said.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Strive board member Ben Werkman expects thousands of firms to hold BTC, if only “to protect themselves”

article-image

To date, 12.6 million humans have scanned at a World Orb

article-image

One small step for man, one giant leap for Bitcoin

article-image

Jay Woods, Chief Global Strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said it would be “very rare” for an acquisition to happen since the IPO may occur as soon as next week

article-image

Sponsored

Money is one of the most consequential pieces of infrastructure, and M0 believes its architecture should serve builders, not extract from them

article-image

The financial backwaters they laughed at might be the only thing keeping the dollar afloat