TikTok Explores Peer-to-Peer Payments Through Direct Messages

TikTok is developing a peer-to-peer payment feature that could allow users to send money via direct messages, potentially further expanding the social platform into financial services.

References to the feature were discovered in hidden code within the current version of TikTok’s U.S. iPhone app, Bloomberg reported. The code indicates recipients could “tap to accept” a payment, while senders could attach a message to the transaction in a format similar to Venmo.

TikTok Pay could power money transfers in DMs

The proposed feature would use TikTok Pay, the company’s existing payment service that is already available for TikTok Shop purchases in Southeast Asia.

TikTok told Bloomberg that peer-to-peer payments are not currently being tested. That suggests development remains in its early stages, and there is no confirmed timeline for a public rollout or any guarantee that the feature will ultimately be released.

If launched, payments inside direct messages would give TikTok another service beyond its core short-form video platform. The company has already expanded into areas including e-commerce through TikTok Shop, search, local discovery, games and hotel bookings.

TikTok has shown broader fintech ambitions

The potential payment feature follows other signs of TikTok’s interest in financial services. Reuters reported earlier this year that the company had applied to Brazil’s central bank for authorisation to operate as a financial technology company offering payment and lending services.

A peer-to-peer payment product would put TikTok into a market already served by established services such as Venmo and Zelle. It could also bring payments closer to social interactions by allowing users to transfer money without leaving a direct-message conversation.

Other social platforms are also exploring the intersection of messaging and financial services. X, formerly Twitter, recently launched X Money, which allows users to send money to one another.

For now, TikTok’s peer-to-peer payment system remains an unreleased feature in the app’s code rather than an announced product. Its final capabilities, availability and potential launch date remain unknown.