For years, PayPal has been synonymous with convenient online transactions and secure digital wallets. Now, the fintech giant is once again at the forefront of innovation, announcing a significant evolution in its peer-to-peer (P2P) payment services. PayPal today introduced PayPal links, a new way to send and receive money through a personalized, one-time link that can be shared in any conversation.
PayPal users in the U.S. can begin creating personalized payment links today, with international expansion to the UK, Italy, and other markets starting later this month. By making payments this simple and universal, PayPal links helps drive new customer acquisition and brings more users into the PayPal ecosystem.
The peer-to-peer (P2P) experience is about to go even further. Crypto will soon be directly integrated into PayPal’s new P2P payment flow in the app. This will make it more convenient for PayPal users in the U.S. to send Bitcoin, Ethereum, PYUSD, and more, to PayPal, Venmo, as well a rapidly growing number of digital wallets across the world that support crypto and stablecoins.
Expanding what people can do with PayPal also comes with reassurance around how personal payments are handled. As always, friends-and-family transfers through Venmo and PayPal are exempt from 1099-K reporting. Users won’t receive tax forms for gifts, reimbursements, or splitting expenses, helping ensure that personal payments stay personal.
“For 25 years, PayPal has revolutionized how money moves between people. Now, we’re taking the next major step,” said Diego Scotti, General Manager, Consumer Group at PayPal. “Whether you’re texting, messaging, or emailing, now your money follows your conversations. Combined with PayPal World, it’s an unbeatable value proposition, showing up where people connect, making it effortless to pay your friends and family, no matter where they are or what app they’re using.”
P2P is a cornerstone of PayPal’s consumer experience, driving engagement and bringing more users into the ecosystem. P2P and other consumer total payment volume saw solid growth in the second quarter, increasing 10% year-over-year as the company focused on improving the experience and increasing user discoverability to make it easier than ever to move money globally. Plus, Venmo saw its highest TPV growth in three years. With PayPal World unlocking seamless interoperability, P2P is poised for even greater momentum in the future as PayPal and Venmo connect to billions of wallets worldwide.
How PayPal links work:
- Create a personalized link – Open the PayPal app, enter the details of your payment or request, and generate a unique, one-time link to share.
- Always the right person – Each link is private, one-time use, and created for a specific transaction.
- Drop it anywhere – Send your link in a text, DM, email, or chat. Add a note, emoji, or payment note.
- Manage payment activity: Unclaimed links expire after 10 days. Users can send a reminder or even cancel the payment or request before the link is claimed with the PayPal app.
- Tap and done – The recipient taps the link and either completes or accepts the payment within the PayPal App with their PayPal account.
- Funds are instant – the recipient will get immediate access to their funds with a PayPal Balance account once accepted.
