Mistaken Minting: Paxos Accidentally Creates $300 Trillion of PayPal's Stablecoin, Then Corrects It

Paxos

Paxos, a stablecoin issuer, recently made headlines when it mistakenly minted an astonishing $300 trillion of PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin on Wednesday. The error was promptly addressed within minutes as the excess tokens were burned.

Key Takeaways

Error Overview: Paxos accidentally minted $300 trillion PYUSD due to a six-zero mistake.
Quick Resolution: The company rapidly corrected the error by burning the excess tokens and re-minting the correct amount of $300 million.
Past Mistakes in Crypto: Mistakes of this nature have occurred before in the industry, which shows the risks involved in automated transactions.
Stablecoin Market Landscape: As of mid-October 2025, the stablecoin market cap is around $306.18 billion, with strong performance from leading stablecoins.

The blockchain records, as observed on Etherscan, confirmed this rare but significant “fat-finger” error that occurred in the tightly regulated domain of stablecoin production. The mistake happened when Paxos accidentally inserted six extra zeros while creating the tokens. Within moments, the firm rectified the situation, eliminating the incorrectly minted $300 trillion PYUSD and producing the correct value of $300 million instead.

Paxos(@Paxos) accidentally minted 300T $PYUSD 7 hours ago — they added six extra zeros by mistake! 😅

The error was quickly corrected as they burned the 300T $PYUSD and properly re-minted 300M $PYUSD instead. https://t.co/RJeWtSnW9R pic.twitter.com/ktQQ88RfHw
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 16, 2025

Historical Context of Minting Errors

Mistakes like this are not unusual in the cryptocurrency space. Unlike traditional transactions, token transfers sent to incorrect addresses often cannot be reversed. However, stablecoin issuers have more operational control, enabling them to rectify such errors by returning or burning newly created tokens.

Paxos's recent incident resembles past missteps in the industry. For example, in 2019, Tether mistakenly issued approximately $5 billion worth of USDT, which was later corrected by burning the excess amount. Similarly, in May 2021, BlockFi inadvertently credited its users with substantial Bitcoin amounts instead of a promotional stablecoin, leading to complex reversals. In December 2022, a glitch during a DeversiFi upgrade resulted in a $23.7 million Ethereum gas payout, much of which the development team was able to recover with community help.

The Role of Stablecoins in the Crypto Landscape

These incidents highlight the vulnerabilities within the cryptocurrency infrastructure, particularly when automated systems manage large payment transactions.

As of mid-October 2025, the overall market capitalization of the stablecoin sector stands at approximately $306.18 billion, marking a 47% increase year-to-date. This growth is largely driven by prominent entities such as Tether’s USDT, which holds around 59% of the market share, and Circle’s USDC.

Although PayPal USD (PYUSD) is a smaller player, it has garnered significant attention in the market. As of October 2025, its market cap is approximately $2.32 billion, with its token supply equating to this value and trading prices closely hovering around $0.9997.