# PayPal USD (PYUSD) Quantum Readiness Report

> PayPal USD has a QRI score of 1/100 and is assessed at Stage 1 (Quantum Risk Assessed) with medium evidence confidence.

Evaluation date: 2026-06-05. Review status: draft. Evaluated scope: Multi-chain fiat-backed stablecoin token (ERC-20 on Ethereum, SPL on Solana, ERC-20 on Arbitrum). Token-specific admin/governance keys and supply-control mechanisms evaluated directly. Host-chain cryptographic layers evaluated via token inheritance (QRI §7.2)..

PayPal USD (PYUSD) scores 1/100 on the Quantum Readiness Index. PYUSD is a centrally-issued fiat-backed stablecoin deployed as standard ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and SPL token on Solana. The project has undertaken zero quantum-specific work: no public cryptographic inventory, no quantum risk assessment, no PQC design or prototype, no migration roadmap, and no acknowledgment of the quantum threat from either Paxos or PayPal. All token-specific admin and governance keys—controlling mint, burn, freeze, pause, and contract upgrade—are classical ECDSA addresses protected only by Gnosis Safe multisig (3-of-20 threshold), which itself relies on ECDSA. The SupplyControl contract's daily rate limits provide operational blast-radius mitigation but zero quantum resistance. With approximately $3.48 billion in circulating supply fully exposed to quantum key-recovery attacks and no migration, freeze, or recovery path, PYUSD represents a high-value quantum-critical vulnerability. The project is at Stage 1 (Quantum Risk Assessed) because the cryptographic inventory is publicly verifiable from source code and on-chain data, even though the issuer has not published or acknowledged a quantum risk assessment. The single point awarded reflects only that the value-at-risk is measurable (<25% coverage tier per QRI §9.3.1).

## Core resources

- [PayPal USD QRI report](https://qrindex.org/projects/paypal-usd/): Human-readable assessment with score, stage, evidence, blockers, risks, and assurance notes.
- [PayPal USD structured report data](https://qrindex.org/projects/paypal-usd/report.json): Complete report as JSON for deterministic machine processing.
- [QRI methodology](https://qrindex.org/methodology/): Scoring model, evidence handling, readiness stages, confidence, assurance, and report status.
- [All QRI project reports](https://qrindex.org/llms.txt): Score-ranked index of every published project assessment.
- [PayPal USD official website](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/paypal-usd): Project-maintained website.



## Evidence sources

- [Evidence source 1](<https://github.com/paxosglobal/pyusd-contract>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 2](<https://www.paxos.com/pyusd>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 3](<https://docs.paxos.com/guides/stablecoin/pyusd/mainnet>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 4](<https://etherscan.io/address/0x6c3ea9036406852006290770bedfcaba0e23a0e8>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 5](<https://etherscan.io/token/0x6c3ea9036406852006290770bedfcaba0e23a0e8>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 6](<https://github.com/paxosglobal/pyusd-contract/blob/master/contracts/PYUSDImplementation.sol>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 7](<https://github.com/paxosglobal/paxos-token-contracts>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 8](<https://www.paypal.com/us/cshelp/article/what-is-paypal-usd-pyusd-help1005>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 9](<https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/paypal-usd/>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 10](<https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/paypal-usd>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 11](<https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 12](<https://github.com/paxosglobal/pyusd-contract/blob/master/audit-reports/Trail_of_Bits_Audit_Report.pdf>): Public source cited by the PayPal USD QRI assessment.