TikTok Weighs Launching an In-App Payment System in the US
As X (formerly Twitter) continues building out its X Money payment system, TikTok is also looking to expand its shopping experience with in-stream payments. According to Bloomberg, TikTok is exploring bringing its TikTok Pay feature to US users, which would let people send money directly to other profiles via in-app messages.
TikTok Pay is currently live in Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, letting users pay for products directly within the app. In some markets, TikTok also offers TikTok PayLater, which lets shoppers split purchases into installments.
The ability to pay directly within a livestream can meaningfully move shopping metrics, since the instant gratification of checking out on the spot — especially during live broadcasts — encourages impulse purchases. That dynamic has long powered sales on Douyin, TikTok's sister app in China, which now actively promotes Douyin Pay as its primary payment method. Livestreams accounted for more than 40% of Douyin's total e-commerce sales in 2024, according to a ScienceDirect report — underscoring how valuable direct, payment-linked purchasing can be.
TikTok saw substantial growth in in-app shopping activity in the first half of 2026, according to a new report from Momentum Works, with gross merchandise value (GMV) reaching roughly $50 billion — a 92% jump from a year earlier. The US market alone accounted for $11.8 billion of that total, more than doubling year over year.
Given those numbers, TikTok's interest in bringing payments to the US makes sense: the company already has the infrastructure in place, and expanding it could further boost its commerce potential.
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