A major disruption hit PayPal and Venmo on Thursday, leaving thousands of users unable to log in or send money for nearly an hour.
Reports of outages began around 11:50 a.m. ET, according to DownDetector, which recorded close to 10,000 complaints within 30 minutes. Users across the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Spain said they were abruptly signed out of their accounts and couldn’t regain access.
Several small business owners also reported being unable to print shipping labels or view payment data, interrupting day-to-day transactions. One user described the experience as a “complete shutdown,” saying even basic purchases were failing to process.
By noon, both PayPal and Venmo acknowledged the issue on X, confirming that they were investigating an “ongoing disruption” affecting users globally.
“We understand the inconvenience and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible,” the Venmo support team wrote.
PayPal posted a similar message and later confirmed that access had been restored for most users by 12:15 p.m. ET.
The incident marks the second major disruption this year for the payment giant. In August, another technical fault left many customers unable to send or receive funds, sparking confusion and concerns about data security.
Neither company disclosed the cause of Thursday’s blackout, though users speculated about a possible backend server issue.
Both platforms now appear to be operating normally, and PayPal said it will continue monitoring systems to prevent further disruptions.
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