What's going on?

PayPal announced disappointing quarterly results this week, but it might only be a matter of time before the payment giant�s �super app� sends its stock up, up, and away.

What does this mean?

PayPal wasn�t feeling much love last quarter: long shipping delays and the end of lockdowns made online shopping much less desirable than in-person browsing, and what money customers had to spend was limited by the higher prices of everyday essentials. eBay didn�t help much either, pushing its users toward its own payment system and continuing to poach transactions from one-time partner PayPal.

PayPal�s users, then, only spent 23% more last quarter than the same time the year before, leading the company�s total revenue to grow just 13% � its smallest uptick in two years. And don�t expect a swift turnaround: PayPal revealed a worse-than-expected outlook for revenue and new user accounts in 2022, which might be why investors initially sent its shares plunging 17%.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Is it a bird�?

PayPal�s trying to keep users on its platform by becoming a �super app�, having recently added savings accounts and crypto trading. And it seems to be working, with the company reporting that the average active user now makes 45.4 transactions � up on the 42.9 analysts were expecting. That might be just the start: PayPal�s reportedly planning to launch a suite of investment products fit to rival Robinhood�s too.

The bigger picture: PayPal�s backup plan.�
PayPal announced last month that it�s thinking about launching its own stablecoin � a cryptocurrency that would be pegged to the value of the US dollar, making it much less volatile than the likes of bitcoin and ether. �PayPal Coin� would be an alternative way of making payments on its platform, and could render them cheaper and more secure. The company�s been a bit slow on the uptake, mind you: Visa not only accepts stablecoin transactions, it�s already moved on to developing a range of stablecoin-focused products.