Peer-to-Peer Payment Statistics 2026: Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, and Mobile Transfers

Peer-to-peer payments moved over $1.2 trillion through Zelle alone in 2025, while Venmo, Cash App, and PayPal collectively processed hundreds of billions more. With 84% of U.S. consumers having used a P2P service, digital transfers have become a primary way Americans send money. This report compiles source-verified statistics on P2P payment volume, adoption, and fraud.

Key Findings at a Glance

• Zelle processed $1.2 trillion in payments in 2025, a 20% year-over-year increase (Zelle / PR Newswire, Feb 2026).
• 84% of U.S. consumers have used a peer-to-peer payment service (LendingTree Survey).
• PayPal's total payment volume hit a record $1.68 trillion in 2024 across 26.3 billion transactions (PayPal FY 2024 Earnings).
• Consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, with bank transfer/payment fraud losses at $2 billion (FTC, March 2025).
• U.S. mobile P2P payment value reached $1.7 trillion in 2024, projected to surpass $2.2 trillion by 2026 (eMarketer).

P2P Market Size

Sources: eMarketer US Mobile P2P Payments Forecast 2024; Precedence Research

Platform Comparison

Zelle

• Zelle is forecast to hold 54.6% of total U.S. mobile P2P value in 2025 (CoinLaw).
• In August 2025, Zelle moved more than $9 billion in a single day, a 12% increase over its previous record.
• Nearly 30% of all money sent on Zelle in 2025 moved to or from small businesses.

Sources: Zelle 2024 Press Release; Zelle 2025 Press Release

Venmo

• Venmo revenue grew 20% year over year in Q1 2025 (CNBC).
• Venmo debit card and "Pay with Venmo" active accounts grew 20%+ in Q4 2024.

Cash App

Sources: Backlinko; Business of Apps

PayPal

Source: PayPal FY 2024 Earnings

Transaction Volume Trends

• P2P transaction value growth is rapidly outpacing user growth, indicating higher per-user spending (eMarketer).

User Demographics

• 76% of Americans have used at least one of PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or Cash App (Pew Research, 2022).
• 91% of Gen Z and Millennials have used P2P services. Only 15% of Americans under 45 have never used P2P, versus 54% of those 60+.
• 37% of Gen Z and 36% of Millennials use P2P services multiple times per week, compared to just 7% of Baby Boomers (LendingTree).
• Adults aged 18-24 used their phones for 45% of all payments in 2024 (Federal Reserve Diary of Consumer Payment Choice 2025).
• U.S. consumers made an average of 11 payments per month with a mobile phone in 2024, up from 4 in 2018.

Platform Preference (Pew Research, 2022)

Source: Pew Research Center

Business P2P Adoption

• Small businesses sent or received over 500 million Zelle transactions in 2024 (+32% YoY), totaling $283 billion. In 2025, small business transactions grew to 647.6 million (+23.5%) (Zelle).
• Nearly 1 in 4 Zelle senders sent a payment to a small business in Q4 2024.
• Over 36 million merchants use PayPal in 200 markets worldwide (Capital One Shopping).

P2P Fraud Statistics

• Consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, a 25% increase over 2023 (FTC, March 2025).
• Bank transfer/payment fraud losses: $2 billion in 2024 (highest among all payment methods).
• Zelle-specific: More than 41,000 cases involving $171 million in losses reported to the FTC in H1 2024 alone.
• The CFPB alleged cumulative losses of $870 million+ across JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo over Zelle's seven-year existence (CFPB Lawsuit, Dec 2024).
• Zelle states 99.9%+ of all transactions are completed without fraud or scam reports.
• One-third of payment app users (34%) say they are "a little" or "not at all" confident that payment apps keep personal information safe (Pew Research).

P2P for Business Payments

P2P platforms are increasingly used for business transactions. Zelle small business volume grew 32% in 2024, and nearly 30% of all Zelle payments in 2025 involved a small business. As P2P becomes a primary payment method for freelancers, contractors, and small businesses, maintaining clear transaction records becomes essential for tax compliance and bookkeeping.

International P2P Comparisons

India UPI

• UPI processed 228.3 billion transactions in calendar year 2025, up from 172.2 billion in 2024 (+32.5% YoY) (Business Standard).
• 21.63 billion transactions in December 2025 alone (single-month record), worth Rs 27.97 trillion (Elets BFSI).
• UPI is now accepted internationally in 8 countries (Singapore, UAE, France, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius), with cross-border transactions growing 20-fold in one year (IBEF).

China WeChat Pay / Alipay

• Alipay processed approximately $20.1 trillion in total volume in 2025. WeChat Pay handles over 1 billion transactions daily (CoinLaw).
• Together they control over 90% of China's mobile payment transactions. Total China mobile payment volume surpassed $80 trillion in 2024.
• Alipay global MAU: 1.4 billion. Mobile payment penetration in China exceeds 85% in urban areas.

Brazil Pix

• Pix processed 64 billion transactions in 2024 (+53% YoY), surpassing debit and credit card volumes by 80% (PYMNTS).
• Since launch (2020) through September 2025: 196.2 billion cumulative transactions, moving $16 trillion (over 7x Brazil's annual GDP) (Faster Payments Council).
• Over 170 million consumers use Pix, representing 93% of Brazil's adult population.

Real-Time Payment Networks

FedNow

• 1,200% YoY increase in transaction volume: from 97,424 settled payments in Q1 2024 to 1,310,017 in Q1 2025. Q2 2025 reached 2.1 million transactions (Digital Transactions).
• 2025 dollar value: $853.4 billion with average payment of $101,435 (vs. $38.2 billion and $25,376 average in 2024) (FedNow Explorer).
• Approximately 1,400-1,600 financial institutions onboarded as of mid-2025. Transaction cap raised from $1 million to $10 million in 2025.

RTP (The Clearing House)

• 2024: Payment value jumped 94% YoY to $246 billion; volume reached 343 million transactions (PYMNTS).
• The Clearing House processed more than $1.3 trillion in total payments in 2025.
• 58% of U.S. banks now use both RTP and FedNow for instant payments. 78% of consumers chose faster payments as a preferred option.

1099-K Tax Reporting and P2P

• The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed July 4, 2025, repealed the ARPA $600 threshold and retroactively reinstated the original federal requirement: over $20,000 and more than 200 transactions for 1099-K reporting (IRS).
• The $600 threshold (enacted in ARPA 2021) was delayed four times by the IRS and never took effect before being repealed (Kiplinger).
• Personal reimbursements (splitting rent, sharing meals) are explicitly not reportable -- only payments for goods or services trigger 1099-K.
• Payment card transactions have no minimum threshold -- merchant acquirers must issue 1099-K regardless of dollar amount (RSM).
• Individual state thresholds may still be lower than the federal $20,000 (TaxAct).

P2P for Rent Payments

• 49% of renters use P2P apps (Zelle, Cash App, Venmo, or PayPal) to pay rent, per a 2025 survey (RentecDirect).
• Despite P2P adoption, 42% of rent payments are still made by check and 22% by cash (TurboTenant).
• Offline rent payments had the highest rates of late payments, peaking at 25% in 2025 (Baselane).

Cross-Border P2P Payments

• Global remittances reached $905 billion in 2024 (+4.6% from $865B in 2023). Flows to low- and middle-income countries projected to reach $690 billion in 2025 (Visa / World Bank).
• 1 in 8 people globally (1 billion) rely on remittance services annually. 67% of remittance senders now prefer sending money digitally via app (Visa Money Travels Report).
• Wise: $174.9 billion in cross-border volume in 2024 (FXC Intel). Remitly: captured ~23% market share in the U.S.-Latin America corridor by Q4 2024 (SaveOnSend).

Banking the Unbanked via P2P

• 4.2% of U.S. households (5.6 million) were unbanked in 2023 -- the lowest rate since the FDIC survey began in 2009 (FDIC).
• 49.7% of all households used nonbank online payment services (PayPal, Venmo, Cash App) in 2023, up from 46.4% in 2021.
• Among unbanked households: 66.2% relied entirely on cash, while 33.8% used prepaid cards or P2P apps as banking substitutes (FDIC).
• Cash App had 58 million MAU in 2025 (+16% YoY). 72% of users now rely on direct deposit services. Cash App offers 4.5% APY for users with $300+/month in direct deposits (CoinLaw).

P2P Dispute Resolution

• CFPB received approximately 29,000 complaints in H1 2025 filed under domestic money transfers, up from ~1,300 in H1 2024 -- a 2,051% YoY increase (American Banker).
• The three largest banks reimbursed Zelle scam victims only 38% of the time in 2023, down from 62% in 2019 (Senate PSI Report).
• Consumers reported losing $210 million to P2P scams in 2023 alone, a 62% increase from 2021 (Consumer Reports).

If you found this data useful, please cite as: "Peer-to-Peer Payment Statistics 2026," makemyreceipt.com, February 2026.

Methodology and Sources

All statistics in this report are sourced from publicly available earnings reports, government studies, and industry research. Primary sources include:

• Zelle / Early Warning Services: 2024 Milestone Press Release and 2025 Results.
• PayPal Holdings: Q4 & FY 2024 Earnings.
• Federal Reserve: 2025 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.
• FTC: 2024 Consumer Fraud Data.
• Pew Research Center: Payment App Usage Survey (2022).
• LendingTree: P2P Services Survey.
• eMarketer: US Mobile P2P Payments Forecast 2024.
• FDIC: 2023 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households.
• IRS: 1099-K Threshold FAQ under OBBBA.
• World Bank / Visa: Money Travels 2025 Digital Remittances Report.

Last updated: February 2026.