At 3:12 PM EST, blockchain watchers froze as Paxos, the regulated issuer behind PayPal USD (PYUSD), mistakenly minted $300 trillion worth of PYUSD in a single transaction.
Just 22 minutes later, the entire amount was burned, as if it never happened.
The company quickly issued a statement clarifying the cause:
@Paxos, October 15, 2025
What Really Happened
The massive mint originated from Paxos’ official wallet, confirming it was an internal mistake, not a hack. According to on-chain data, the tokens were created in a single transaction, likely due to a configuration or input error, something as simple as typing the wrong number during an internal test or system update.
On Ethereum, the mint and burn were both visible to the public, allowing anyone to track the sequence in real time. The transparency of blockchain made the event both shocking and oddly reassuring, a trillion-dollar error that everyone could see, and everyone could verify was fixed.
Within minutes, crypto Twitter exploded. Analysts and traders scrambled to confirm whether the $300 trillion mint was real, while others joked that PayPal had briefly overtaken Apple, Microsoft, and even entire global economies in value.
Despite the chaos, Paxos’ quick response prevented any lasting market disruption. PYUSD’s price briefly dipped, even showing a 100% flash crash on some DeFi dashboards, but it quickly stabilized once confirmation of the burn surfaced.
Stablecoins like PYUSD are built on the promise of security, stability, and full backing by fiat reserves. Seeing a mint of $300 trillion out of thin air, even temporarily, raised fresh questions about centralization and control in regulated stablecoin systems.
@pukerrainbrow summed up the sentiment well:
The incident exposed how much power is concentrated in the hands of issuers, even compliant, institution-backed ones like Paxos. Unlike decentralized assets such as Bitcoin, stablecoins depend on trusted intermediaries to manage minting, burning, and reserves.
The Market Reaction Around The Development
Shortly after the minting event, major DeFi protocols moved fast. Aave temporarily paused PYUSD markets as a precaution against potential contagion. Other platforms followed suit, waiting for on-chain confirmation that the mint was reversed.
@omeragoldberg
Once Paxos burned the erroneous supply and re-minted a smaller, verified amount for regular operations, confidence returned. The PYUSD peg remained stable, and trading volumes normalized within hours.
The Technical Breakdown
Here’s what blockchain data revealed:
- Time of event: 3:12 PM EST, Oct 15, 2025
- Minted amount: ~$300 trillion PYUSD
- Burned: Entire amount, 22 minutes later
- Source wallet: Paxos official issuer address
- Duration of anomaly: ~22 minutes
- Cause: Internal system error during a transfer operation
- Impact: Temporary suspension of PYUSD markets on select DeFi platforms
According to developers familiar with ERC-20 token standards, such an incident likely stemmed from a misconfigured minting script or automated process, not a security breach. Since mint and burn permissions are tightly restricted to the issuer’s contract, no external actor could have triggered it.
While the mint had no financial impact, it became one of the most viral events in DeFi history. It exposed how human or software errors can cascade into astronomical figures, and how the public, immutable nature of blockchain makes these errors impossible to hide.
For many, it was a case study in both transparency and trust:
- The mistake was visible to everyone, the blockchain didn’t lie.
- The response was fast, demonstrating accountability.
- The system self-corrected, without requiring user intervention.
It also reignited a debate about centralization risks in stablecoins. Unlike algorithmic stablecoins (which rely on market mechanics), fiat-backed tokens like PYUSD depend on centralized mint/burn authority, meaning a single wrong command can briefly distort supply data, even if the real-world backing remains unchanged.
Aftermath and Lessons Learned
By the end of the day, Paxos had:
- Confirmed the error was internal.
- Burned all excess tokens.
- Re-minted a correct operational balance.
- Coordinated with PayPal and DeFi platforms to resume normal operations.
Markets quickly moved on. PYUSD’s market cap, as per [CoinMarketCap](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/paypal-usd/), remained around $2.64 billion, unchanged from before the event.
Still, the incident will go down as one of those “only-in-crypto” moments, where a typo could theoretically create the world’s largest company, and blockchain’s transparency ensures the world sees it happen live.
The “$300 trillion mint” was more than a glitch. It was a reminder of both how fragile and how robust blockchain systems can be. One line of code created unimaginable wealth, and 22 minutes later, another line erased it.
In traditional finance, such an error might stay hidden for months. In crypto, it played out in full public view, corrected in real time, with the blockchain itself serving as the ultimate audit trail.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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Source: https://nulltx.com/paxos-technical-error-creates-300-trillion-pyusd-confirms-mint-was-internal-error-not-a-hack/
