Peer-to-peer (P2P) payments are increasing significantly in the US, driven by tremendous growth from Venmo and Zelle. Our latest estimates show that P2P mobile transactions will total $309.95 billion this year, growing 27.9% to hit $396.48 billion in 2020.

The number of P2P payment users will continue to grow as well: We estimate that there will be 69.2 million users in the US this year, rising to 73.8 million by 2020. Previous figures for P2P payment users were revised down to take into account a likely overlap in Venmo and Zelle users.

Venmo, acquired by PayPal in 2013, reported strong Q2 results, with total payment volume increasing 70% year over year to 24 billion transactions in the quarter. Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal, said the company expects Venmo will drive a total payment volume of nearly $100 billion by the end of 2019.

Zelle, owned by seven of the biggest US banks, similarly reported strong second-quarter results this year. The company said that payment value grew 56% to $44 billion, and the number of transactions grew 71% to 171 million.

“P2P payment apps like Venmo and Zelle provide simple and costless transfers from one person to another, a service which conventional banks were slow to provide," said eMarketer forecasting analyst Vincent Yip.

"With Venmo being the first mainstream P2P payment app to market and Zelle being recently available through most major banks, the two have become the dominant players within the P2P industry," he said.

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