# Pax Dollar (USDP): D-Score 34/100 — Centralized Leaning

**BlockIndex D-Score: 34/100 (Centralized Leaning).** Pax Dollar (USDP) is a Layer 1 cryptocurrency using PoS consensus. Pax Dollar (USDP): Regulated ERC‑20 stablecoin by Paxos with 1:1 USD backing, on‑chain mint/redeem and issuer pause controls.

_Source: https://blockindex.ai/coin/usdp · Data by BlockIndex.AI · Updated 2026-06-19_

## D-Score breakdown (0-100, higher means more decentralized)
| Component | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall D-Score | 34 |
| Node distribution | 0 |
| Initial distribution | 0 |
| Governance | 16 |
| Age and history | 13 |
| Autonomy | 5 |

## Key facts
- Layer: Layer 1
- Consensus: PoS (N/A)
- Launch: Other (2018)
- Founder: Charles Cascarilla; Rich Teo
- VC funded: No
- Max supply: N/A
- Circulating: 31,954,027

## Market data (as of 2026-06-19)
- Price: $1
- Market cap: $31.92M
- 24h volume: $2.18M
- 24h change: -0.05% · 7d change: +0.01%

## About
Pax Dollar (USDP) is a fiat-collateralized stablecoin issued and managed by Paxos Trust Company. Launched in September 2018 by Paxos founders Charles Cascarilla and Rich Teo, USDP is implemented as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum mainnet and is backed 1:1 by U.S. dollar deposits held in Paxos-controlled bank accounts. Paxos operates under a New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) charter, and the regulated trust structure underpins Paxos’ mint-and-redeem operational model: Paxos mints USDP when it receives USD deposits and redeems USDP for USD on demand. The issuer model gives Paxos operational controls over issuance, custody of reserves, and emergency mechanisms, such as the ability to pause token transfers and approvals via on‑contract administrative controls.

Technically, USDP is designed to be fully interoperable with Ethereum tooling, DeFi protocols, and centralized exchanges that support ERC-20 tokens. The contract follows common patterns for administrative control (notably OpenZeppelin’s Pausable and Ownable patterns were referenced in the source materials), enabling Paxos to enact emergency pauses when necessary. Because USDP is a token (not a separate blockchain), network-level characteristics such as block production, consensus, and TPS are inherited from the Ethereum network; USDP itself has no separate block timing or mining properties. Standard explorers, analytics providers, and DEX interfaces are used to monitor supply, holders and contract activity for USDP.

USDP’s principal use case is as a regulated, on‑chain digital dollar for traders, exchanges, and Ethereum-native DeFi integrations that require a bank-backed stable asset. The 1:1 fiat collateral model and Paxos’ regulatory posture aim to provide assurances around reserves, audits, and legal custody compared with algorithmic or uncollateralized alternatives. In practice, USDP is listed across major centralized exchanges and multiple decentralized venues, and market snapshots in the provided sources show a current price close to $0.9992, a circulating supply near 51.56 million tokens, and a market capitalization in the tens of millions of USD. The token is also used in on-chain liquidity pools and trading pairs that integrate with DeFi protocols.

From a governance and risk perspective, USDP is an issuer‑controlled asset. Paxos administers minting and redemption, and the contract-level pause capability concentrates emergency authority with the issuer rather than distributing it to token holders or a DAO. This centralized operational control is paired with regulatory oversight from NYDFS, which provides a level of legal and compliance accountability but also underscores counterparty and custody risk inherent in a centrally issued stablecoin. No on-chain DAO governance, public premine, or ICO-style distribution is documented in the provided sources; distribution is operationally driven by Paxos’ issuance and redemption activities. The provided materials do not include a public technical roadmap or exhaustive open-source code disclosures for the token beyond the contract address and standard ERC-20 behavior.

## Links
- Website: https://www.paxos.com/the-digital-dollar-that-always-equals-a-dollar-paxos-standard-pax-is-now-pax-dollar-usdp/
- Whitepaper: https://standard.paxos.com/whitepaper.pdf
- GitHub: https://github.com/paxosglobal/paxosstandard

---
About the D-Score: BlockIndex.AI rates decentralization from 0 to 100 across node distribution, initial distribution, governance, age and history, and autonomy. Methodology: https://blockindex.ai/dscore