PayPal Exec Discusses Scaling Payments, Crypto, Agentic Commerce

PayPal executive Jeff Pomeroy returned to the Quarterly Review six months after outlining an agenda to unify the firm’s global platform, grow in‑store presence and scale value‑added services, reporting progress across all three fronts.

Self‑service tokenization and other tools

The payment giant has shifted network tokenization, smart retries, debit routing and payouts from a launch phase to a self‑serve model. Merchants now log into a portal, review their own data and activate services without direct sales contact.

During a recent free trial, hundreds of merchants turned on network tokens at no cost. All but one kept the tokens after the trial, according to Pomeroy, because the performance boost was evident in their own numbers.

To make the value clear, the team built a proof mechanism that displays metrics such as authorization rates and transaction costs. “That lets us walk in with the merchant’s own performance in front of us and have a real conversation instead of a sales pitch,” he said.

Internal process restructuring and the use of artificial intelligence have shortened product time‑to‑live. AI handles routine steps, freeing staff to focus on the subtle parts of payments that still need human judgment.

Omni‑channel growth through Verifone

PayPal’s partnership with Verifone remains central to its physical‑retail strategy. The team has closed a series of omni‑channel agreements that add genuine new volume, despite operating with a deliberately lean market presence.

Among the wins is the company’s first government omni‑channel contract, an unexpected but powerful proof point that the model can serve public‑sector clients.

Pomeroy compared offline expansion to steering a crowded marina. “When we first docked twenty years ago, it was a quiet marina, and it was all ours,” he said. “Now it’s become pretty crowded. So, what do you do when the marina is full? You go find new water to sail. Offline is clear, open water.”

The goal is to make PayPal and Venmo wallets as natural at a checkout counter as they are online, encouraging merchants to prioritize those options.

He emphasized that the approach is additive, not exclusive: “Our obligation is to bring merchants and consumers into these new environments so that every part of the business rises with them.”

Global platform unification

Australia and Europe have fully migrated to PayPal’s unified stack, covering both new customers and the existing merchant base. The company expects the migration to be complete across all markets by year‑end.

Beyond routing transactions through partners, PayPal has begun bringing processing capabilities in‑house, a step already live in its first market.

The merchant experience remains unchanged, even as the underlying infrastructure evolves. “The merchant keeps one connection the entire time,” he said. “The plumbing behind it changes; their experience doesn’t.”

Consolidating enterprise and small‑business processing under a single center of payment excellence eliminates the need for separate operational boxes.

Crypto, agentic commerce and the next frontier

Earlier this year, Pomeroy’s remit expanded into a new organization called Payment Services & Crypto, sharpening PayPal’s “North Star.” The unit aims to serve every business, channel and payment modality on one platform.

Crypto is now viewed as part of the broader financial infrastructure. With more than 600 million crypto wallets globally, PayPal sees potential efficiency gains in settlement, cross-border payments and payouts.

“It’s becoming part of the global financial infrastructure, and at that point it can’t be a separate business anymore,” he said. Integrating payments and crypto under one roof is intended to deliver scale and speed to both.

Distribution gaps also exist. A large share of PayPal’s volume comes through e‑commerce platforms where its value‑added services have historically been unavailable.

“The next leg of the journey is getting our services onto all of those surfaces, so it stops mattering how a merchant reaches us,” Pomeroy noted.

Agentic commerce, driven by AI agents, is another area of focus. He believes that while most payment channels have been stable for decades, AI‑driven agents could create a genuinely new channel.

He cautioned that the infrastructure to support such a shift is still unbuilt at scale. “You earn the right to answer those questions by building the foundation and putting up the volume,” he said. “Then you’ve won.”

The rapid evolution of AI agents may reshape commerce, but PayPal’s strategy hinges on laying a robust, flexible foundation first.

Looking ahead, the company’s success will likely depend on how quickly it can extend its services across the myriad platforms where merchants operate, and on its ability to keep the unified platform stable as it absorbs more processing internally.

In his advice to peers, Pomeroy warned against being sidetracked by headlines. “Focus in on what you can deliver, what drives value for your customers, and where your teams actually take pride in delivering things in a very focused and measurable way. That’s the whole game.”

Although this interview may be the last in the current series, Pomeroy hinted at future updates. “I know this series is over,” he said, “but I’d love to check in again next year to talk about how our North Star is coming into clearer focus.”