Bloomberg: TikTok is developing a P2P transfer feature; officials say it hasn't been tested

Comparative news, according to Bloomberg, TikTok is developing a “peer-to-peer” payment function to allow users to transfer money to each other through private messages. The relevant evidence comes from the US version of the TikTok App code. The interactive design of this function is quite complete. The payee can “click accept” to complete the payment, the payer can leave a text message, and changes in transaction status will be notified to the sender in real time through push notifications, making the experience similar to Venmo owned by PayPal.

TikTok responded that the feature “has not yet entered the testing phase in any market,” and the report also indicated that there is no indication that TikTok will definitely launch the feature. However, the existence of the code, plus TikTok is recruiting financial services jobs in various markets such as the US, indicates that the company is exploring this direction.

TikTok has accumulated payment experience in Southeast Asia. Its payment product, TikTok Pay, operates in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand, and is mainly used for TikTok Shop shopping payments. TikTok Shop GMV in Thailand reached US$5.419 billion in the first half of 2025, an increase of 162% year over year. TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, with about 170 million users in the US alone. Shares of PayPal and other companies fell sharply on the same day after the news broke. Analysts believe that if this feature is implemented, it will positively impact Venmo's position in the US friend transfer market. Venmo's monthly activity is about 67 million. However, regulatory factors remain the main challenge for TikTok to expand its payments business in the US.