Digital payments are the future. Just as chip-and-PIN replaced checks and contactless replaced chip-and-PIN, the days of carrying different pieces of plastic around with us will one day come to an end. Over the past five years, the number of transactions made using digital wallets doubled and last year, there were almost a trillion digital payments made.
Two thirds of us make or receive digital payments at least sometimes and in short, it is very clear which way the wind is blowing. If you don’t have a digital wallet, you’re going to need one, and if you do have one, it is worth satisfying yourself that it is the best one for you. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the three most popular digital wallets that are out there in cyberspace today.
PayPal
With a history dating back to the 1990s, PayPal is the app that put digital payments into the mainstream. It’s easy to use, and is justifiably trusted, going above and beyond the rest in its anti fraud measures. Most of us already have PayPal accounts – the company recorded 429 million active user accounts as at Q2 2022.
PayPal is great for peer to peer payments, but the fees can become a serious issue for business payments. Also, there is a downside to the stringent security and anti-fraud measures. Innocent users often find their accounts temporarily blocked because something has triggered the highly sensitive anti fraud protocols. All they can do is wait it out for the freeze to be lifted, something that can take days.
CashApp
This digital wallet was all the rage when it came out in 2014. As well as working with practically any Visa or Mastercard account, you can use it for Bitcoin transactions. This makes it a popular choice, especially in the US, for online casino transactions. CashApp is safe, secure and fast, justifying its place in the market second only to PayPal.
If you were among the thousands who used CashApp for casino gaming and suddenly found your account frozen, you’re probably wondering how to reopen my closed cash app account. The likelihood is you inadvertently used an illegal gambling site, and customer services can usually get your cash app account up and running again with minimal fuss. Just be careful to use licensed and legal casino sites if you decide to go gambling again!
Apple / Google Pay
OK, these are different digital wallets, but they are so similar, we can group them together. Which you use depends on whether you use Android or iOS on your phone. Both are super simple and convenient to use for contactless retail purchases or for peer to peer payments, and can be linked to different accounts and even to other digital wallets such as PayPal.
Visit any store or coffee shop and it is plain to see that these are the digital wallets of choice for today’s Gen-Zers, so expect them to challenge the established providers for market supremacy in the years ahead.
