World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin hit a $5 billion market cap, surpassing PayPal’s PYUSD (about $3.7B), coinciding with Binance launching a four‑week, $40 million WLFI airdrop rewarding USD1 holders.

This matters because it shows how exchange-led incentives can rapidly shift stablecoin market share, with distribution and liquidity depth outmuscling brand recognition and closed-network strategies. USD1’s ascent appears driven by Binance’s cross-account eligibility and bonus multipliers on collateral balances, which deepen on-exchange liquidity but may not yet reflect real-world payments traction. For PayPal, the flip highlights the speed disadvantage of a walled-garden approach versus crypto-native issuance amplified by top-tier exchange distribution. Politically, co-founder Donald Trump Jr.’s public promotion of a “built in America” stablecoin ties market growth to U.S. competitiveness narratives, likely drawing added policy attention in an election-year context.

Net-net, USD1’s rise reflects a distribution-first playbook that could reshape stablecoin share in 2026, while testing how durable airdrop-driven liquidity remains once incentives sunset.