Venmo Expands Reach of P2P Payments via PayPal Network

“Through new connectivity with PayPal, Venmo users can now send and receive money with hundreds of millions of PayPal users across 90 markets, marking the largest expansion of Venmo’s addressable market since the app’s launch,” the company said in a Monday (March 23) news release.

According to the release, this means Venmo users can now access one of the world’s largest peer-to-peer (P2P) payment networks. The company says this addresses a common frustration with these payments: “app fragmentation” has made sending money between friends and loved ones needlessly complicated.

“Venmo and PayPal have each become a trusted part of how people send and receive money – Venmo as the way friends split, share, and connect over everyday spending, and PayPal pioneering the global standard for cross-border money movement,” said Diego Scotti, general manager of PayPal’s consumer group.

“By bringing these two ecosystems together, we’re making it seamless for Venmo and PayPal users to pay one another without friction or borders. It’s about meeting people where they are and delivering simple, secure ways to move money in the moments that matter most, no matter what your preferred app is.”

The release adds that the expansion lets consumers move money between friends and family domestically and internationally with just a phone number, and no complex account details or routing numbers needed.

“For Gen Z, who are nearly twice as likely as the average American to send money internationally every month, this means the app they already rely on to split the dinner bill now works just as seamlessly for paying someone halfway around the world,” Venmo added.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found that P2P payments using a digital wallet are described as the norm in countries like the U.S. (70%), Germany (73%) and Japan (67%).

However, despite the strength in P2P, the U.S. is behind many other countries in adopting mobile payments for in-store transactions, with just 17% of consumers saying they had used this method for their last point of sale purchase.

“The report suggests that the U.S. may be held back in in-store mobile adoption by factors such as outdated payment terminals, slower technological adoption rates and consumers’ continued strong ties to traditional card-based and cash methods,” PYMNTS wrote.

“While mobile payments represent 20% of in-store transactions globally as the fastest-growing method, the U.S. figure of 17% (or 17.4% based on percentage change data) indicates room for significant growth.”