Pax Dollar (USDP) — Complete Guide

USDP (Pax Dollar, formerly PAX) is one of the oldest regulated stablecoins, issued by Paxos Trust Company since September 2018. Paxos holds the first New York trust charter for a crypto firm (2015) and is regulated by NYDFS. USDP's market cap has declined to under $200M as Paxos shifted focus to issuing PYUSD (for PayPal) and USDG (consortium model), but it remains important as a benchmark for regulated stablecoin compliance standards.

Paxos holds USDP reserves exclusively in cash and US Treasury bills in segregated trust accounts at US-regulated institutions. Paxos is legally required to hold reserves separately from operational funds under NY trust law. Monthly attestations are published by Withum. Users can mint and redeem USDP directly with Paxos through the Paxos API (institutional) or via exchanges. Paxos can freeze USDP on-chain in compliance with NYDFS directives and law enforcement requests. The token follows the ERC-20 standard on Ethereum with SPL on Solana.

• +NYDFS trust charter — the gold standard for US stablecoin regulation
• +New York trust law segregation ensures reserve assets are bankruptcy remote
• +Paxos is the most credentialed stablecoin issuer in the US by regulatory standing
• +Monthly Withum attestations with full reserve composition disclosure
• +Treasury-only backing — no commercial paper, no credit risk
• +Foundation for Paxos' broader platform (PYUSD, USDG, PAX Gold) shows infrastructure capability

• !Market cap below $200M — thin liquidity limits large institutional use
• !Paxos received a Wells Notice from SEC in 2023 regarding BUSD (Binance USD) — USDP was unaffected but created regulatory uncertainty
• !Loss of Binance partnership (BUSD shutdown) removed the largest USDP distribution channel analogue