What’s Going On Here?PayPal announced disappointing quarterly results this week, but it might only be a matter of time before the payment giant’s “super app” sends its stock up, up, and away. What Does This Mean?PayPal wasn’t feeling much love last quarter: long shipping delays and the end of lockdowns made online shopping much less desirable than in-person browsing, and what money customers had to spend was limited by the higher prices of everyday essentials. eBay didn’t help much either, pushing its users toward its own payment system and continuing to poach transactions from one-time partner PayPal.
PayPal’s users, then, only spent 23% more last quarter than the same time the year before, leading the company’s total revenue to grow just 13% – its smallest uptick in two years. And don’t expect a swift turnaround: PayPal revealed a worse-than-expected outlook for revenue and new user accounts in 2022, which might be why investors initially sent its shares plunging 17%. Why Should I Care?Zooming in: Is it a bird…?
PayPal’s trying to keep users on its platform by becoming a “super app”, having recently added savings accounts and crypto trading. And it seems to be working, with the company reporting that the average active user now makes 45.4 transactions – up on the 42.9 analysts were expecting. That might be just the start: PayPal’s reportedly planning to launch a suite of investment products fit to rival Robinhood’s too.
The bigger picture: PayPal’s backup plan.
PayPal announced last month that it’s thinking about launching its own stablecoin – a cryptocurrency that would be pegged to the value of the US dollar, making it much less volatile than the likes of bitcoin and ether. “PayPal Coin” would be an alternative way of making payments on its platform, and could render them cheaper and more secure. The company’s been a bit slow on the uptake, mind you: Visa not only accepts stablecoin transactions, it’s already moved on to developing a range of stablecoin-focused products. | 
