At a market cap of more than $82 billion, PayPal (PYPL) - Get Report is now worth more than American Express (AXP) - Get Report .

Shocker? Probably not.

Shares of the digital payments company have surged 70% this year, blowing away Facebook (FB) - Get Report , Apple (AAPL) - Get Report and JPMorgan (JPM) - Get Report . After TheStreet talked with PayPal CEO Dan Schulman at length, you can see why Wall Street has embraced the stock. PayPal is really reinventing itself. Wall Street doesn't believe American Express is doing the same, at least not as quick at PayPal -- shares of American Express have only gained 22% year to date.

PayPal is striking new deals to open up its platform to others such as Facebook and Baidu (BIDU) - Get Report .

"I think digital payments is in its infancy right now, and what I think the market is looking for are pure plays in what is unfolding in the future," Schulman explained to TheStreet.

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Watch the full interview with Schulman here.

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