In an unusual technical mishap, Paxos, the issuer of PayPal USD (PYUSD), accidentally minted 300 trillion PYUSD tokens on the Ethereum network during an internal transfer on October 15, 2025.
The company quickly detected the error, confirmed that no security breach occurred, and burned the excess tokens shortly afterward.
“This was an internal technical error. There was no system compromise, and all user funds remain safe. The root cause of the incident has been resolved,” a Paxos spokesperson stated.
No Hack — Just a Costly Technical Glitch
The brief yet massive minting sparked widespread discussion across crypto communities and social media. According to analytics firm Santiment, PYUSD became one of the most discussed tokens following the event, with social engagement levels surging far above the weekly average.
Analysts explained that the sheer scale of the mistaken issuance — 300 trillion tokens, later burned — captured public attention despite having no real financial impact on the market.
“The crypto community reacted strongly, debating what such an error means for the reliability and transparency of stablecoin issuers,” Santiment noted.
Community Reactions
One X (formerly Twitter) user, known as VarrockBank, pointed out the absurd magnitude of the error, noting that “only about $21 trillion exists globally — and Paxos just minted 15 times that by mistake.”
While the incident did not harm users or the stability of PYUSD, it reignited discussions around trust, control, and accountability within centralized stablecoin frameworks.
Earlier this month, the stablecoin sector’s total market capitalization surpassed $300 billion for the first time in history — highlighting just how critical reliability has become in the digital dollar ecosystem.
