The future of digital wallets: Instant, account-based, embedded by design

The payments experience is entering a new phase. Across industries and regions, we’re seeing digital wallets shift from siloed tools to intelligent infrastructure, defined by three core traits: instant, account-based, and embedded. This shift is being driven by evolving consumer expectations, regulatory reforms, and growing demand from merchants for better economics, greater trust, and seamless integration. Solutions like Wero, launched by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), offer a glimpse of how these elements are already coming together in practice. The following explores what each of these pillars means – and why, together, they are reshaping the future of account-to-account (A2A) commerce.

Instant: Liquidity on demand

Instant payments are often framed as a consumer benefit, offering faster refunds and quicker checkouts. However, for merchants, they address something more fundamental: liquidity.

Delayed settlement is one of the biggest limitations of traditional card-based infrastructure. In sectors like marketplaces, gig work, travel, and digital goods, waiting days for payment finality restricts cash flow and complicates payouts. Real-time rails such as SEPA Instant, Pix, FedNow, and Faster Payments help close this gap. These systems provide instant transaction confirmation and settlement, reducing float time and improving operational agility.

Global instant payment transaction value is expected to grow from USD 22 trillion in 2024 to over USD 58 trillion by 2028, driven by user demand for speed and financial control. This surge reflects a growing consensus that faster access to funds is not just a perk, it’s a business necessity, especially in sectors where timing directly impacts performance.

In the gig economy, for instance, we’ve seen platforms benefit from offering real-time payouts, with worker satisfaction and platform loyalty closely tied to flexible, on-demand access to earnings. Similarly, for marketplaces and on-demand services, faster settlement enhances cash flow and simplifies reconciliation, particularly in high-volume, multi-party environments.

Account-based: Identity and trust by default

As digital wallets shift away from cards, they are moving toward account-based authentication. This change is about more than routing. It is also about trust.

When users authenticate via their bank account, they often use built-in biometric tools such as facial recognition or fingerprint login. This not only speeds up checkout but also improves fraud prevention by verifying both identity and account ownership at the point of interaction. Industries with heightened fraud risk, including ticketing platforms, electronics retailers, and subscription services, are embracing this model to streamline onboarding and protect against false declines. For businesses operating at scale, account-based payments also reduce the need for manual reviews and support a more consistent user experience (UX) across channels. As Open Banking adoption grows, account-level access is becoming the foundation for secure, compliant commerce that reduces friction while raising trust.

Embedded: Payments in the flow of life

Some of the most effective payment experiences are the ones users barely notice. Today’s wallets are becoming embedded directly into third-party platforms, making payment a seamless part of everyday journeys. Think of a rider topping up a balance in a mobility app, a freelancer receiving earnings within a work platform, or a B2B buyer reordering stock through an ERP interface. These embedded flows remove the need to redirect or reauthenticate, offering speed and continuity in the transaction journey.

This is made possible by API-driven integrations and SDKs that support tokenization, routing, and instant payouts behind the scenes. By keeping the front-end experience frictionless while automating essential processes in the background, merchants can scale payments with minimal disruption.

Wero: A glimpse of what’s possible

Wero, the new digital wallet developed by EPI, offers a real-world example of how these trends come together. Built on SEPA Instant, Wero supports both peer-to-peer (P2P) and merchant use cases and is embedded directly into banking apps across Europe. It operates on account-based rails and aligns with EU regulatory frameworks, providing a trusted, instant, and accessible alternative to cards. Its distinct European foundation reflects a broader goal: to strengthen the region’s A2A infrastructure and offer a unified experience across markets. Wero demonstrates what becomes possible when infrastructure, UX, and compliance align to create a stronger alternative to legacy payment methods.

Conclusion

The next generation of digital wallets will not be defined by what they replace but by how they work. Instant, account-based, and embedded experiences are becoming the new baseline for both consumer satisfaction and merchant performance.

This convergence is no longer a future vision. It is already shaping the global payments ecosystem, and the wallets that succeed will be those that bring all three elements together, delivering speed, security, and seamless integration at scale.
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Originally published in The Paypers' Account-to-Account Payments Report 2025

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