Global Trends in Online Payments

China, Singapore, Estonia, Poland and Israel are the largest markets for online payments. These countries have the largest percentage of people who use online payments and do not use cash.  

*Data source: Global Findex 2011, 2014 and 2017

We continue working with Findex data to see the global trends in mobile money and digital payments sector for 2011, 2014 and 2017. China is leading with the largest percentage of people using online payments. It is not surprising, Chinese people already forgot how cash looks like, as everyone switched into WeChat Pay and Alipay that are the main players on the market. People do not need to use even bank cards, as they can receive everything through the mobile applications. If you are in China, you do not need to worry that you forgot to bring some cash or a bank card unless you have your WeChat on your phone. In large cities you can enter a subway, pay for a bus, taxi, bicycle or even buy a street food at some small stall by this mobile application. If you forgot to transfer money to your WeChat account - you can always ask your friend to transfer you some, it will immediately reach your account. After eating in restaurant with your friends, you do not need to waste your time to calculate how much everyone should pay and wait until you receive your cash, you can simply use a Dutch Pay function and your friends will transfer the money online.

The WeChat is a centralised application, thus the data on all transactions is not secured. Blockchain and DLT technologies provide the solution for data security problems. The digital payments decentralisation can make the life not just easier but also secured, there are several markets that are blockchain-/DLT-friendly and where people prefer online payments over cash.