Metal Dollar (XMD) is designed around a basket of supported digital-dollar reserve assets. That does not mean every asset has the same issuer, the same reserve structure, or the same role in the treasury at any given moment.

Three externally issued stablecoins sit at the center of the current Metal Dollar model: USD Coin (USDC), PayPal USD (PYUSD), and Pax Dollar (USDP). Each is designed to track the U.S. dollar and support 1:1 redemption through its issuer, but each arrives with a different issuer, distribution network, and set of terms.

Why use more than one digital dollar?

A basket can reduce dependence on a single issuer or distribution channel. It can also give users more than one supported path for minting and redemption. But diversification should not be treated as a slogan. The details beneath each reserve asset still matter: who issues it, what backs it, who can redeem it directly, where it is available, and what controls apply.

The Metal Dollar treasury makes its own activity visible on-chain. That transparency should be considered alongside the disclosures published by the underlying stablecoin issuers. One layer shows how XMD is configured and backed; the other explains the assets that sit beneath it.

USDC: a widely distributed digital dollar

USDC is issued by Circle affiliates and is designed to be redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars by eligible Circle Mint customers. Circle says USDC is backed by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets and publishes information about reserve composition and circulation.

Its role in the broader digital-asset market is largely defined by distribution. USDC is available across multiple networks, exchanges, wallets, and financial applications. For a basket-backed system, that reach can support liquidity and practical access without changing the need to evaluate Circle's current terms and reserve disclosures.

Read Circle's USDC transparency disclosures.

PYUSD: a payments-oriented stablecoin

PayPal USD is issued by Paxos and is designed for dollar-denominated payments and transfers. PayPal and Paxos state that PYUSD is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. Treasuries, and similar cash equivalents, with monthly reserve reporting and third-party attestations.

PYUSD brings a different distribution model to the basket. It connects an on-chain stablecoin with PayPal's consumer and merchant ecosystem while remaining subject to Paxos issuance and redemption terms. That combination makes issuer identity and product distribution equally important parts of the asset's profile.

Read the official PayPal USD overview and Paxos reserve information.

USDP: Pax Dollar under a legacy treasury symbol

Pax Dollar is issued by Paxos and is designed to be redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars. Paxos reports that USDP reserves are held in cash and cash equivalents and publishes monthly reserve information.

Visitors reviewing the Metal Dollar treasury may see the symbol XPAX rather than XUSDP. This reflects the asset's earlier name, Paxos Standard (PAX), before it was renamed Pax Dollar (USDP) in 2021. XPAX is the XPR Network representation used by the current treasury configuration; it should not be confused with Pax Gold (PAXG).

Read the official USDP documentation.

Supported, held, and permitted are different measurements

A reserve asset can be supported by the treasury without representing a large share of current reserves. The live treasury separates several ideas that are easy to collapse into one:

• Configured support: whether an asset is enabled for minting and redemption.

• In treasury: the amount currently held by the treasury.

• Maximum share: the configured ceiling for that asset's portion of the reserve.

• Minted and redeemed: cumulative activity associated with that reserve asset.

These values can change as users mint and redeem XMD or as governance and implementation decisions evolve. They should be read from the live treasury rather than copied from an old screenshot or treated as permanent target weights.

The current XPR Network treasury configuration also includes a separate MPD reserve line. This article focuses on the three externally issued stablecoins in the basket; the live treasury remains the complete source for configured reserve assets and balances.

The basket is a system, not just a list

Listing supported assets is only the beginning. A durable basket also needs clear minting and redemption rules, transparent balances, allocation controls, issuer monitoring, and a process for evaluating future additions.

That is why the right question is not simply, "Which stablecoins are in the basket?" It is also, "What does each asset contribute, what risks does it introduce, and how can users verify the treasury now?"

View the live XMD treasury, or review potential reserve-asset additions in the Metal DAO proposal archive.

This article is educational and does not constitute legal or financial advice.