The global payment landscape has undergone a significant transformation over the past decade, driven by the rise of digital payments, the advent of tech leaders in the fintech sphere, and the rapid expansion of account-to-account (A2A) payments enabled by real-time payment rails.

Worldpay’s 2025 Global Payments Report, released in March, offers insights into these evolving trends by reflecting on a decade of data, examining the shifts in payment behaviors since the report’s inception back in 2015. It also looks at the trends poised to transform the payment landscape, highlighting cryptocurrencies and embedded finance as key developments expected to shape the ecosystem through 2030.

Digital payments become the norm

Over the past decade, digital payments have rapidly evolved from a growing trend into the dominant force in both online and in-store commerce, overtaking cash and traditional card payments as the preferred payment method.

In 2014, digital payments, which encompass digital wallets, accounts-to-account (A2A) transfers, buy now, pay later (BNPL), and cryptocurrencies, represented 34% of e-commerce value. By 2024, that share had nearly doubled to 66%.

This shift is also visible in point-of-sale (POS) transactions. In 2014, digital payments accounted for a mere 3% of POS value. By 2024, that share had surged nearly tenfold to 38%.

Looking ahead, Worldpay forecasts that this upward trajectory will carry on. By 2030, digital payments are projected to account for 79% of global e-commerce value, translating to an estimated US$8.6 trillion in online spending, and represent 53% of in-store spend.

Fintech companies drive innovation

In the global payments landscape, fintech companies have emerged as key drivers of innovation, reshaping how consumers interact with financial services. Major players such as Alibaba, Apple, and Google have transformed the payment landscape by introducing sleek and convenient digital wallets.

These digital wallets are now widely used around the world, accounting for 53% of e-commerce transactions and 32% of POS spending in 2024. They totaled a value of US$15.7 trillion last year, up about tenfold from US$1.6 trillion in 2014.

Fintech innovators such as Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, and PayPal have also revolutionized consumer credit with buy now, pay later (BNPL) offerings. These solutions have surged in popularity over the past decade, growing from accounting for just US$2.3 billion in e-commerce transaction value globally in 2014 to a remarkable US$342 billion by 2024.

Looking ahead, BNPL is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% through 2030 and reach roughly US$580 billion. Meanwhile, total consumer spending through digital wallets is expected to exceed US$28 trillion by 2030.

Real-time payment rails power the rise of A2A transactions

A2A payments are another payment method that has witnessed a surge in usage. In e-commerce alone, A2A payments grew by a remarkable 515% between 2014 and 2024, soaring from US$152 billion to US$936 billion.

This surge is largely being driven by the rise of instant or real-time payment systems. Across the 40 markets covered by Worldpay’s Global Payments Report, 20 have successfully launched fast payment platforms in the past decade, showcasing how the trend has accelerated. These systems are enabling instant and secure transactions that improve cashflow, reducing processing delays, and supporting financial innovation.

Among the global leaders in this space, emerging markets are setting the pace, with one of the most prominent examples being Brazil’s Pix.

Launched in November 2020, Pix has risen to prominence with strong backing from the central bank, consistency of user experience and relative low cost to merchants. Today, the system is used by three in four Brazilians, and the value of Pix transactions now surpasses that of cards in online payments. Pix has also had a profound impact on cash usage. Between 2020 and 2024, cash’s share of POS transaction value in Brazil dropped from 35% to just 17%.

In Brazil, Pix has helped fueled the rise of A2A payments. In 2024, A2A e-commerce payment value in Brazil stood at US$35 billion, marking a 35-fold increase from a mere US$1.2 billion in 2014.

Payment cards evolve

Despite growing competition from digital-first payment innovations, payment cards continue to play a central role in the global payment ecosystem, thanks in part to the integration of new technologies and features by card networks and issuers to align with changing consumer expectations.

Click to Pay, for example, is a standardized, secure online payment system designed to simplify and unify the checkout experience across websites and devices, similar to how chip cards and contactless payments work in the physical world. Click to Pay was developed by EMVCo, a global technical body collectively owned by major payment networks including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and UnionPay.

Another innovation is Visa Flexible Credential (VFC), a digital payment innovation from Visa that allows a single digital card to hold and access multiple payment types or accounts, including credit and debit cards, BNPL, and rewards points.

Finally, Paze is a digital checkout solution that allows consumers to make secure online purchases without sharing their actual card numbers with merchants. It was created by Early Warning Services, a consortium of US banks that also manages the Zelle inter-bank payment network.

In 2024, credit, debit, and prepaid cards accounted for 45% of total global transaction value across both e-commerce and POS channels. However, this number understates the full impact of cards, as they also serve as the underlying funding source for many digital wallets. A global survey found that 56% of consumers fund their digital wallets with credit or debit cards.

When factoring in both direct card use and indirect use via digital wallets, cards are estimated to be responsible for approximately 65% of global consumer spending in 2024, amounting to an estimated US$29 trillion.

Looking ahead, that value is projected to account for 56% of global consumer payment value by 2030, reaching an estimated US$32.5 trillion.

Cash use continues to decline

The global shift towards digital payments has come at the direct expense of cash. Over the past decade, the share of cash payments has plummeted, falling from 44% of in-store spend in 2014, or slightly more than US$16 trillion, to just 15% in 2024, representing a US$10.5 trillion reduction in value.

Despite this steep decline, the report notes that cash continues to serve as a critical payment method in many communities. This is especially true in Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Spain and Vietnam where cash remained the leading in-person payment method in 2024.

Even in markets like the Nordic countries, often considered among the most advanced in terms of cashless society, cash use still remains relevant, accounting for between 5% to 7% of POS transaction value in 2024.

Looking ahead, cash use is projected to decline further, though at a slower pace. From 2024 to 2030, global cash usage is expected to decrease at a CAGR of 2%, reaching a share of global POS value of 11% by then, or just under US$5 trillion.

Cryptocurrencies, embedded finance to drive payment innovation

Looking ahead, the report expects trends including embedded finance and novel technologies such as cryptocurrencies to shape the payment landscape in the next five years.

Global crypto spend is expected to more than double over the next five years, from US$16 billion in 2024 to US$38 billion to 2030.

Embedded finance is also poised for significant growth. McKinsey estimates that by 2030, the embedded finance market in Europe will exceed EUR 100 billion by 2030, and account for 10% to 15% of banking revenue pools. This represents a significant increase from 2023, during which the market generated between EUR 20 billion and EUR 30 billion, or about 3% of total banking revenues.

On a global scale, the embedded finance market is expected to reach US$7.2 trillion in size by 2030, according to a report by Dealroom and ABN AMRO Ventures.

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