What is a digital wallet?

A digital wallet is a software application that stores payment credentials — such as credit or debit card details, bank account links, or stored funds — on a device or in the cloud, enabling contactless and online payments without a physical card. Digital wallets let consumers pay by tapping a phone at a terminal, scanning a QR code, or selecting a wallet at online checkout.

The term covers two distinct types of product: device-based pass-through wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, which tokenise an existing card, and stored-value e-wallets like GrabPay, GCash, and Touch ‘n Go eWallet, which hold a balance that the user loads from their bank account. Both types are widely referred to as “digital wallets,” but they work in fundamentally different ways.

In Southeast Asia, digital wallets have become a primary mode of payment for hundreds of millions of consumers — driven by high smartphone penetration, underbanked populations for whom a wallet app is more accessible than a traditional bank account, and aggressive incentive programmes from super-apps like Grab and Shopee.

How digital wallets work

Despite sharing the “digital wallet” label, pass-through wallets and stored-value wallets operate differently:

Pass-through wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay)

When a user adds a card to Apple Pay or Google Pay, the wallet does not store the actual card number. Instead, it generates a device-specific virtual account number — a token — through a process called tokenisation. When the user pays, the token is transmitted to the merchant’s terminal via NFC (Near Field Communication) for contactless in-person payments, or via an encrypted payment request for online payments. The card issuer decodes the token, authorises the payment, and the transaction settles exactly as a standard card payment would. No card number is ever transmitted — the token is the payment credential.

Stored-value e-wallets (GrabPay, GCash, Touch ‘n Go eWallet, ShopeePay)

A stored-value wallet maintains an actual balance, funded by the user from a linked bank account, debit card, or cash top-up at designated agents. When the user pays a merchant, funds are transferred from the wallet balance to the merchant — either in real time (for merchant-facing wallets) or via the wallet provider’s settlement process. Stored-value wallets can also be used for peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, bill payments, and in some cases, withdrawals back to a bank account.

The key practical difference for consumers: a pass-through wallet is only as useful as the card it references — if the card is cancelled or expires, the wallet stops working. A stored-value wallet holds its own balance and can function even without an underlying bank account, which is why e-wallets have driven financial inclusion in markets with lower bank account penetration.

For merchants, both types appear as payment options at checkout, but the underlying clearing and settlement infrastructure differs by wallet provider.

Types of digital wallets

Device / pass-through wallets

These wallets tokenise an existing payment card and use the device’s secure element or cloud token to authenticate payments. The user must have an underlying credit or debit card to use them.

• Apple Pay — available on iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac. Uses NFC for in-person contactless, Face/Touch ID for authentication.

• Google Pay — available on Android devices. NFC contactless and online payment support.

• Samsung Pay — Android-only, Samsung devices. Includes MST (magnetic stripe transmission) in some markets, allowing use at older terminals.

Stored-value e-wallets

The user funds the wallet directly. Payments draw from the wallet balance. These are the dominant digital wallet type in Southeast Asia.

• GrabPay — operates across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines within the Grab super-app ecosystem

• GCash — Philippines’ largest e-wallet by users, with bill payment, P2P, and merchant payment functions

• Touch ‘n Go eWallet — Malaysia’s most widely used e-wallet, originating from the national highway toll payment system

• ShopeePay — the payment layer of the Shopee e-commerce platform, with strong user bases across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines

• Maya (formerly PayMaya) — the Philippines’ second major e-wallet, operated by Maya Bank with a full banking licence

Bank-linked QR wallets

These are digital wallet-adjacent products where the payment rails are bank transfers rather than stored value or card tokens. The customer scans a QR code and the payment is pulled from or pushed to their bank account.

• DBS PayLah! (Singapore) — DBS Bank’s wallet app, linked to DBS/POSB accounts via PayNow

• MAE by Maybank (Malaysia) — Maybank’s app-based wallet, linked to Maybank accounts via DuitNow

The distinction matters because bank-linked QR wallets typically have no chargeback mechanism — payments are bank transfers under the hood, not card transactions.

Closed-loop / proprietary wallets

Some wallets work only within a specific merchant ecosystem — Amazon Pay, Starbucks Rewards, or a retailer’s own stored-value card. These are not general-purpose payment methods and are not covered here in detail.

Popular digital wallets in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has one of the highest digital wallet adoption rates in the world, driven by high smartphone penetration and the expansion of super-apps into financial services. Each major market has a distinct wallet landscape:

Singapore

• GrabPay — the most widely used third-party e-wallet in Singapore, embedded in the Grab app used by millions for ride-hailing and food delivery

• Apple Pay / Google Pay — high adoption given Singapore’s high smartphone and card penetration; accepted at most card-enabled terminals

• DBS PayLah! — DBS Bank’s consumer wallet app, used primarily for PayNow transfers and PayNow QR payments

• ShopeePay — strong among Shopee’s large e-commerce customer base in Singapore

Malaysia

• Touch ‘n Go eWallet — the dominant e-wallet in Malaysia, with origin in toll and transit payments and now widely used for retail and F&B merchant payments

• GrabPay — significant penetration through the Grab ecosystem

• ShopeePay — used across Shopee’s Malaysian user base

• Boost — a local e-wallet brand with strong acceptance at F&B and petrol merchants

• MAE by Maybank — widely used among Maybank customers for DuitNow and day-to-day payments

Philippines

• GCash — the dominant e-wallet in the Philippines with over 90 million registered users as of recent reports; used for merchant payments, P2P transfers, bills, and government services

• Maya — the second major e-wallet, backed by Maya Bank with a full banking licence

• GrabPay — present in the Philippines as part of the regional Grab network

Regional / cross-border

• Alipay+ — Ant Group’s cross-border wallet ecosystem, primarily used by Chinese tourists; acceptance in Malaysia and other SEA markets; not available for local Singapore customers paying domestically

• WeChat Pay — similarly cross-border-oriented in Southeast Asia, primarily serving Chinese visitors

Digital wallets for businesses — how to accept them

For merchants, accepting digital wallets is no longer optional in most Southeast Asian markets — it is a baseline expectation. A Singapore hawker stall that accepts only cash misses the majority of under-35 consumers who default to PayNow or GrabPay. A Philippines e-commerce store that doesn’t accept GCash excludes a large segment of mobile-first shoppers.

What merchants need to accept digital wallets

Accepting digital wallets requires either a direct agreement with each wallet provider (GrabPay merchant, GCash merchant, etc.) or integration with a payment gateway that aggregates multiple wallets under one contract and one integration. The latter is almost always the practical route for SMEs.

Through HitPay, merchants can accept the following digital wallets in a single integration:

All wallets appear as payment options within the same HitPay checkout. Merchants do not need separate merchant accounts with each wallet provider — HitPay handles the wallet relationships.

Fees for digital wallet acceptance

Each digital wallet has a different merchant fee. In HitPay, fees are charged per transaction with no monthly fees. For current fee rates by market, see Singapore pricing →.

In-person vs online wallet acceptance

Pass-through wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay are primarily contactless in-person methods — accepted at NFC-enabled card terminals. HitPay’s card terminals support Apple Pay and Google Pay automatically, as they operate over card network rails. Stored-value wallets like GrabPay and GCash can be accepted both in-person (via QR code display) and online (as a checkout option) through HitPay.

QR code payment for digital wallets

In Singapore, HitPay generates SGQR-compliant QR codes — a single QR that accepts PayNow and card-linked QR payments in one scan. In Malaysia, DuitNow QR similarly consolidates multiple wallet and bank transfer options. For merchants, a single printed QR code is enough to accept a broad range of digital wallet payments in-person.

Start accepting digital wallets with HitPay →

Singapore payment gateway → · Payment methods in Singapore → · Mode of payment →

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