The Asia Pacific (APAC) region leads the world in digital wallet use, accounting for 77% of online spend ($2.7 trillion) and 63% of in-person spend ($6.3 trillion) in 2025. Meanwhile, the United States remains largely card-based, but Gen Z may change this, according to a new report from Global Payments.
On March 31, multinational payments technology company Global Payments released its 11th annual “Global Payments Report“—produced by its “Worldpay business”—revealing that digital wallet use continues to rise globally, now representing 56% of online spending and 33% of in-store spending.
This trend is particularly pronounced in APAC, where digital wallets were even more dominant in 2025, accounting for 77% of online spending and 62% of in-store spending throughout the year.
Published annually since 2015, the Global Payments Report provides insights into how consumers and businesses transact across 42 global markets. The report tracks consumer payments when shopping online and at the point of sale, determines key payment trends, and projects future scenarios for payment method shares and market size.
In this year’s issue, several notable trends emerged, not least the global boom in digital wallet usage, which appears set to continue, with the report forecasting that digital wallet spending will grow 10% annually over the next five years.
“By 2030, $4.1 trillion of U.S. spending is projected to take place through a digital wallet, which would represent a 64% increase from 2025,” Global Payments said.
Southeast Asia
According to the report, APAC leads the world in digital wallet payments, where it accounted for 77% of online spending and 62% of in-store spending in 2025, with direct use of cards accounting for just 15% of all online spending and 20% of all in-store spending in 2025, “less than half the global average and far below the U.S. usage.”
This trend looks set to accelerate, with the report forecasting that payment apps across channels could reach $23.4 trillion by 2030, “highlighting the scale of the shift toward mobile payments.”
Hong Kong exemplified this sea-change from a card-based payment system, with digital wallets overtaking cards as the leading payment method for the first time in 2025.
According to the report, wallets accounted for 41% of e-commerce transaction value and 45% of point-of-sale transaction value in the territory in 2025. Meanwhile, A2A payments expanded, reaching 19% of e-commerce transaction value and 9% of point-of-sale spending. Those shares are expected to rise to 23% and 13%, respectively, by 2030.
These trends stand in stark contrast to the U.S., where the digital payments space remains largely set in its ways.
US is a card country, but Gen Z may change this
Another of the report’s key findings was that the U.S. “remains one of the world’s most card-led markets,” with direct card use accounting for 49% of all online spending and 71% of in‑store spending in 2025.
“Globally, direct card usage is strong but accounts for a notably lower share, representing 31% of online and 48% of in-store spending in the same year,” Global Payments noted.
However, one demographic of Americans appears to be following global trends: Gen Z.
Based on research, younger consumers are driving much of the shift toward mobile payments in the U.S., with digital wallets already the most commonly used online payment method among 18–24-year-olds (39%) and 25–34-year-olds (41%).
This demographic shift contributes to the report’s finding that direct use of cards in the U.S. is forecast to fall online from 49% in 2025 to 43% in 2030, and in-store from 71% in 2025 to 64% in 2030.
“While cards still anchor U.S. spending today, the future of commerce is being shaped by younger consumers,” said Bob Cortopassi, president and chief operating officer of Global Payments. “For Gen Z, digital wallets and tap-to-pay experiences are already the norm. As their spending power grows, the way they pay today is a window into the future of payments.”
He added that “the future belongs to businesses that understand how their customers want to pay. As expectations shift toward choice and flexibility, merchants must evolve their payment systems to serve every demographic – and those that do will unlock the next wave of growth.”
Overall, the Global Payments Report signaled the continuation of a trend towards digital wallet use and A2A payments, which goes some way to explaining an increasing push from the traditional powerhouses of the payments space, such as Mastercard (NASDAQ: MA) and Visa (NASDAQ: V), to explore digital wallets and the blockchain space.
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James Field