Charles Cascarilla: Paxos CEO behind PYUSD and USDG

Charles Cascarilla is chief executive and co-founder of Paxos and is the regulated issuer for PayPal USD (PYUSD) and a principal figure in the Global Dollar (USDG) program. Paxos completed the conversion of its New York limited-purpose trust into Paxos Trust Company, N.A. on Dec. 12, 2025, bringing U.S. issuance of certain tokens under supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Paxos was founded in 2012 by Cascarilla and Rich Teo and began as the itBit exchange. The firm obtained a New York limited-purpose trust charter in 2015 and later moved U.S.-based issuance, reserve custody and redemption functions for specific assets into the federally chartered trust after the 2025 conversion.

Under the national trust, Paxos Trust Company, N.A. issues PYUSD for the PayPal brand and also issues Pax Dollar (USDP) and Pax Gold (PAXG) for U.S. users. Paxos describes PYUSD as a PayPal-branded token while the legal issuer and trust operator is Paxos Trust Company, N.A.

Global Dollar (USDG) is issued outside the U.S. through Paxos Digital Singapore, a payments institution regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and through Paxos Issuance Europe under European regulatory frameworks. Paxos and partner firms launched the Global Dollar Network in November 2024 to distribute USDG through exchanges, custodians and payments platforms; early network participants include Anchorage Digital, Bullish, Galaxy, Kraken, Nuvei and Robinhood.

Paxos expanded custody and wallet capabilities with its acquisition of Fordefi, an institutional multi-party computation wallet platform announced in November 2025. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company described the acquisition as adding an MPC wallet and policy engine to its regulated custody services to support enterprise tokenization and payment flows.

On May 28, 2026, Paxos reported that Paxos Securities Settlement Company, LLC received SEC registration as a clearing agency under Section 17A. Paxos presented PSSC as a blockchain-native central securities depository and clearing venue intended to provide clearing and settlement services.

Cascarilla has participated in regulatory engagement. He testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on March 11, 2025, in a hearing on a federal framework for payment stablecoins and identified enterprise partners using Paxos infrastructure, including PayPal, Mastercard, Mercado Libre, Robinhood, Stripe and Interactive Brokers.

A Binance-branded dollar that was issued through Paxos was retired in 2023 after partner compliance developments. Paxos and market observers reported that the token did not experience a lasting depeg during that wind-down.

Paxos has published circulating supply figures for PYUSD and other tokens at various points in 2024–2026. Company materials and filings state that the firm provides regulated custody, issuance and settlement services for enterprises that deploy branded stablecoins, tokenized assets and blockchain-native settlement.