For years, the YouTube Partner Program has been the gold standard for creator monetization, relying on traditional bank transfers and standard payment operations to pay out billions in ad revenue. While new and additional popular options have continued to emerge, such as TikTok and other platforms, YouTube remains at the forefront for creators. However, the video giant finds itself at the forefront of finance and has decided to offer an alternative form of payment, one that some may find a bit controversial. YouTube will now allow creators to bypass traditional currency payouts entirely, embracing the volatile but increasingly popular world of cryptocurrency and stablecoins for monthly paychecks.
How YouTube’s New Crypto Payout System Works
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For what it’s worth, YouTube’s dive into the world of cryptocurrency as a payout method will begin with just a toe in the water. As the head of crypto at PayPal, May Zabaneh, confirmed to Fortune, creators on the platform can now choose to receive payouts in PayPal’s stablecoin, PYUSD, instead of traditional fiat.
YouTube had already been working with PayPal, but receiving payments in PYUSD allows creators to receive funds and quickly move them to any cryptocurrency of their choice. They can also opt to sell the PYUSD into their accounts if they choose to.
PayPal has been mainly at the forefront of the cryptocurrency landscape, allowing users to buy various types of coins, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and others as early as 2020. The PYUSD was officially launched in 2023, and according to Fortune, it holds a market capitalization of nearly $4 billion, per CoinGecko.
The option to allow its creators to receive payments via the stablecoin PYUSD began early in Q3, after PayPal updated its platform to allow users to receive funds via the stablecoin instead of traditional fiat, as Coin Edition highlighted. In turn, this means YouTube creators can receive their income from monetization tools, advertisements, and memberships via PYUSD.
Could YouTube Dive Deeper Into Crypto Payouts Despite the Volatility Risks?
The topic of YouTube’s initial foray into the cryptocurrency landscape poses very little, if any, risk to creators. The PYUSD is, for the most part, effectively the same as receiving standard fiat. However, it’s sparked the question of whether the company could choose to step further into the crypto world at some point in the future, potentially allowing users to collect payments via options such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other popular coins.
That remains an unknown for the time being, but it’s interesting to see the move. However, YouTube’s previous dealings with PayPal, including allowing customers to use standard PayPal payments as a payout option to contributors, could make the possibility of any other type of coins being used in the immediate future less likely.
Here are a few of the most popular cryptocurrencies currently:
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Tether (USDT)
- BNB
- XRP
- US Dollar Coin (USDC)
- Solana (SOL)
Many companies and freelance services do offer the option of cryptocurrency payments. However, it remains far less frequent than utilizing standard PayPal payouts, Venmo, Apple Pay or other popular payment methods.
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