I guess you're not in Europe. Paypal is huge here, especially in Germany. Has been useful for years here for free instant transactions without currency conversion fees (at least between some euro currencies)
Zelle…was built by the big banks…
That sorta sounds like violating visa tos?
P2P payments between friends came later and wer just another thing Paypal could handle but at that point it was already very popular.
>even today many germans don't have one
Thankfully debit cards are a thing!