PayPal has launched its own stablecoin: PayPal USD (PYUSD).
This stablecoin is built on Ethereum and issued by PaxosTrust Company. It is backed by US dollars, short-term government bonds, and cash equivalents, and will be gradually opened to PayPal's customers in the United States. PayPal USD can be exchanged for US dollars at a 1:1 ratio and is issued by Paxos. It can be bought and sold on PayPal's application or website at a price of $1.00 per PYUSD.
With PYUSD, you can:
Transfer PYUSD between PayPal and compatible external wallets
Send peer-to-peer payments using PYUSD
Select PYUSD as a payment option at checkout
Exchange any cryptocurrency supported by PayPal with PYUSD
The launch of PYUSD on August 8th also sparked a wave of counterfeit PYUSD tokens. It has been reported that over 66 counterfeit PYUSD tokens have appeared on networks such as Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base, etc. Scammers are attempting fraud by issuing fake tokens on various networks, so users need to trade with caution and be vigilant.
Subsequently, Paxos announced the PYUSD token contract address, which is 0x6c3ea9036406852006290770BEdFcAbA0e23A0e8 (Ethereum mainnet). The legitimate PayPal USD token was created on November 8th, 2022.
In the face of rampant fake tokens on Ethereum, investors often cannot differentiate the authenticity of tokens unless they have the ability to independently audit smart contracts. To protect your assets, it is necessary to verify token contracts using a blockchain explorer.
Confirm Token Contract Address
To verify the authenticity of a token, you first need to determine its contract address. Typically, the official website or related social media of the token project will provide the contract address of the token. Let's take the PYUSD token contract address as an example:
0x6c3ea9036406852006290770BEdFcAbA0e23A0e8
Query Using a Blockchain Explorer
Now, let's start using the blockchain browser for contract address verification. Open Tokenview Ethereum blockchain browser at https://eth.tokenview.io, and enter the PYUSD contract address in the search box.
Click on search, and you will see the basic information about the contract:
【Label】: You can see that Tokenview has tagged this contract address as PayPal USD.
【Contract Name】: AdminUpgradeabilityProxy
【Transaction Count】: 157
【Token Associated with the Contract】: PayPal USD (TOKEN)
【Creator】: 0x3b210c2a0cfcf237a48675b70626961be3e435db
【Creation Time】: 2022-11-08
Token Contract Address
Click on 【PayPal USD (TOKEN)】, and at the top of the page, you can view key information about the token contract, including the token's name, symbol, total supply, transaction count, active addresses, and new addresses. The current supply is 26,905,005 PYUSD, and there are 26 holding addresses.
Token Holding Addresses
At the bottom of the page, you can learn about the distribution of the token by checking the holding addresses of the token. The second highest holder is Paxos: Treasury, with 1,904,984.15 PYUSD, accounting for 7.08%.
Transaction History
The blockchain browser can provide the transaction history of the token, including transfers, issuances, printing, etc. By checking the transaction history, you can understand the activity and authenticity of the token. For example, PYUSD had its first printing on November 8, 2022, totaling 1,100,336.22 PYUSD.
Token Contract Code
For users who are more familiar with technology, Tokenview can also provide the source code of the token contract. By inspecting the contract code, you can verify the functionality and security of the token.
First, you can check if the PYUSD contract address has been verified through the source code using Tokenview Ethereum block explorer. If the contract is shown as a complete match, it proves that the contract is verified and genuine.
For unverified contracts which haven't been validated with source code, you can use https://eth.tokenview.io/en/verifyContract for verification. Source code verification provides transparency for user interaction with smart contracts. Tokenview matches the compiled code with the code on the blockchain by uploading the source code. By querying the source code of verified contracts, you can confirm whether the "smart contracts" you want to know about are doing what they are supposed to do.
In addition to checking the official website, whitepaper, community forums, and other sources of token project information to confirm the authenticity of Ethereum tokens, you can also verify and query through an Ethereum block explorer to better identify the authenticity of Ethereum tokens. Remember to do your homework and consider your risk tolerance before investing. If you discover any suspicious tokens or information, please report it promptly to the relevant platform or community to jointly maintain a healthy blockchain ecosystem.
