PayPal to connect world's main payment systems, digital wallets

PayPal wants to be available anywhere in the world that you want to make a purchase. The payments company is rolling out PayPal World, a global platform to connect the world's largest payment systems and wallets.

It's starting with interoperability between PayPal and Venmo, and will quickly add Mercado Pago, which operates throughout Latin America; India's UPI; and Tenpay Global, a cross-border payment platform service based in China. Interoperability with other payment platforms is expected to follow.

'Live' this fall with Venmo

PayPal World is expected to go live this fall, leveraging a cloud native, multi-region deployment architecture that ensures low latency and high availability worldwide. For the first time, international shopping and money transfers will be not just possible but simple, PayPal claims.

First up will be seamless interoperability between PayPal and Venmo. PayPal and Venmo users will be able to send money to each other anywhere in the world. In addition to peer-to-peer payments, beginning next year Venno users will be able to shop and pay with their Venmo accounts both online and in-store wherever PayPal is accepted.

"PayPal World is a first-of-its-kind payments ecosystem that will bring together many of the world's largest payment systems and digital wallets on a single platform," Alex Chriss, PayPal president and CEO, said in a press release. "It is a testament to the passion our partners have for an inclusive, global digital economy and has the potential to revolutionize cross-border commerce."

In a July 28, 2025, earnings call, Chriss described the move as "a game changer for our branded experiences." Digital wallets have become ubiquitous, with more than 3.5 billion consumers relying on them as their "go-to" for shopping and sending money, Chriss noted, adding that "83 percent of global digital payments [are] happening through [digital] wallets, and the number is only going to continue to grow."

Chriss went on to predict that digital wallets will exceed 5 billion by 2026.

Bringing together fragmented system of wallets

"But among those billions of users there are hundreds of wallets represented," Chriss said. "This fragmented system of wallets poses tremendous challenges and immense friction in a global commerce ecosystem." He pointed out that it creates consumer uncertainty over where their wallets are accepted. "Even for wallets like PayPal, with tremendous global reach, there are large regions of the world and millions of merchants that are closed off," Chriss said. For their part, travelers have to keep track of multiple wallets, and for businesses it means building technology capable of accepting dozens of wallets – a costly endeavor, he added.

"When you sell to the world, how do you choose which wallets to accept and which customers to turn away? You shouldn't have to make that choice," Chriss said. PayPal World makes all that hassle go away, and it will extend PayPal's reach from 400 million customers to over 2 billion, he pointed out.

"The platform will be compatible with dynamic payment buttons, stablecoins and the latest technologies and commerce experiences, including agentic shopping," Chriss told analysts during the company's earnings call.

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