2 PAYMENT METHOD PROFILES: DIGITAL WALLETS
Cost Of Digital Wallets Analysis 314
Payment Method Largest Market
Estimated Pricing Estimated Volume Estimated Implied Merchant Fees
PayPal
United States
1.72%
$1,681,150,000,000 $28,842,000,000
WeChat Pay
China
0.60%
$3,059,460,000,000 $18,356,760,000
Alipay
China
0.55%
$3,332,890,000,000 $18,330,895,000
Grab Pay
Singapore
2.15%
$11,723,000,000
$252,044,500
Blik
Poland
1.50%
$49,761,000,000
$746,415,000
3.20% CashApp fees range from 2.6% + $0.15 and 2.9% + $0.30. This estimate assumes a average transaction value of $50.
CashApp
United States
$240,812,000,000 $7,705,984,000
TOTAL
0.89%
$8,375,796,000,000 $74,234,098,500
Table 2.13
We have analyzed six of the world’s largest staged/stored value digital wallets – WeChat Pay, Alipay, PayPal, Grab Pay, Blik and CashApp xiii – with a combined $8.4 trillion in annualized payments volume. From the table above we can see that merchant pricing varies significantly, from 0.55% average fees for Alipay to 3.20% published default fees for CashApp. There are several potential reasons for this delta, including economies of scale (the two largest wallets by volume, Alipay and WeChat Pay, also appear to have the lowest cost) and geography (digital wallets based in the U.S. where card fees are high also appear to have high digital wallet fees). Regulation Digital wallets are currently regulated primarily based on the type of activity within the wallet and type of payment funding the activity. One of the impactful regulatory dynamics here is whether a central government has intervened to develop and form governance around a national account-to-account payments networks (see India case study). In November 2024, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) attempted to regulate fintech wallets, 315 but this initiative was rolled back under the new Congress and the Trump Administration in 2025. 316 Other digital wallet policy considerations are centered on consumer protections, data security and privacy, and are not covered in this report. However, it is notable that the European Digital Identity Wallets being deployed across common specifications with a target date of 2026 could have implications for existing multi-factor authentication payment requirements in Europe. 317 Other considerations beyond regulation are global card network acceptance rules requiring merchants to Honor all Cards/Wallets, which arguably apply to digital wallet environments where those global card networks are used to fund transactions. The application of such rules across digital wallets results in perpetuating governance challenges prevalent in existing card acceptance environments. 318
xiii
CashApp volume includes Square volume.
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