TikTok might be exploring a feature that would let users send money to each other in direct messages, based on code found hidden in the current US iPhone version of the app. The rumours remain unconfirmed.
According to the Bloomberg report, the code shows recipients could “tap to accept” a payment before it expires, senders would get status updates via push notification or their inbox, and users could attach a message to a payment, similar to Venmo.
The feature would run on TikTok Pay, the payment tool already used for TikTok Shop purchases in Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. A TikTok spokesperson said the feature is not currently being tested in any market, calling it early-stage.
A Years-Long Push into Payments
TikTok already handles several forms of in-app spending, including TikTok Shop purchases and virtual gifts to creators that can be converted to cash.
Consumers have spent more than $2.9 billion on TikTok so far this year, and the app has ranked as the world’s top platform for in-app purchase revenue since 2022, according to Sensor Tower. In the US, users reportedly spend more on TikTok than on YouTube, Facebook or Instagram.
The potential payment feature would extend a strategy ByteDance has pursued since at least 2021, when it launched Douyin Pay for TikTok’s Chinese counterpart, letting users link bank accounts to shop, pay for livestreams and send tips.
Both ByteDance and TikTok are currently hiring for financial-services roles in the US and abroad, Bloomberg reported, and several of the executives leading the push are former JPMorgan Chase employees; JPMorgan has previously partnered with ByteDance on payments infrastructure.
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A Platform Already Uneasy with Financial Content
A US business now technically separate from ByteDance TikTok’s venture into payments lands on a platform that has struggled to control financial promotion.
Finance-focused creators on the app have built large followings among younger users, and Finance Magnates has previously reported cases where the products they promote turn out to be unlicensed, excessively risky, or otherwise unsuitable for the audience.
In response, the platform has banned paid promotions of crypto and forex trading products, and regulators, including Singapore’s, have separately ordered the platform to block unauthorised financial advertising, but enforcement has been inconsistent, and creators commonly use workarounds.
A native way to move money directly between users, inside the same app where that content circulates, would sit closer to the transaction itself than TikTok’s existing tools do.
