PayPal is "super app"

PayPal is preparing to introduce a number of new features in the third quarter as its management sees the company's future in the concept of a "super-app" with capabilities that go far beyond the payment function alone.

PayPal (PYPL) has over the past six years, under the leadership of Daniel Schulman, emerged as one of the leading US companies in digital payments.

Today, PayPal has a market value approaching $300 billion more than Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS) combined. The annual volume of payments passing through the PayPal platform has exceeded $1 trillion and the number of users reached 392 million at the end of March 2021.

PayPal's recent first-quarter report was held up as a successful expansion into cryptocurrency with the launch of the PayPal Cryptocurrency service. However, this is far from the only new area in which the company plans to expand.

PayPal has announced that it will introduce new services in the third quarter of this year that could include high-yield savings accounts, cheque-cashing services and equity investment opportunities. PayPal executives acknowledged that becoming a super-app is difficult and that PayPal is not the only company in the US that is striving for it, but Schulman sees the chance.

Daniel Schulman said: "At least half a billion to 1 billion people. One billion people would be ideal".

However, PayPal already has a user base of 392 million people, which is close to 500,000,000. Given PayPal's high user growth rate, interest in its cryptocurrency service, and the upcoming launch of new features, the figure of 1 billion seems realistic.