The news: PayPal CEO Enrique Lores views Venmo as central to pioneering PayPal’s recovery, per The Wall Street Journal.

Lores wants to turn Venmo into a one-stop shop for money management, complete with crypto and investing services like SoFi and Chime, according to comments he made to investors.

How we got here: PayPal has cycled through CEOs and faced down a takeover attempt after years of weak performance.

• Its former CEO Alex Chriss—who replaced Dan Schulman in 2023—implemented a strategy to turn the company around. That “transition year”  failed to translate into meaningful change, sending the stock to decade lows.
• PayPal then faced a possible $53 billion takeover bid by Stripe and Advent. PayPal first resisted this bid, before opening itself to talks that later fell through. 

Why this matters: Lores’ push for Venmo to spearhead the company’s recovery follows recent wins for the P2P app.

• Venmo’s TPV grew 14% YoY in Q2 2026.
• The app launched a marketing campaign with Rachel Sennott and Jordan Firstman to capture new Gen Z users and highlight a new rewards program.
• It enlisted stars of the White Lotus to promote its Venmo Anything marketing campaign.
• And Venmo’s network expanded to include all PayPal users, increasing its size by 200 million users.

Implications for payment providers: Pushing for a financial super app status will require a combination of proper incentives, targeted youth acquisitions, and a reputation of trust—all within an easy-to-use UX design. 

• X Money is attempting a similar playbook with 6% APR for users, but its history of scandals likely will reduce its users' trust in its product.
• OnePay has turned to novel verticals within its super app, like auto services and a Builder Card, to make its ecosystem stickier.

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