At the beginning of 2026, I believed domestic account-based wallets would remain largely focused on peer-to-peer payments, with eCommerce representing their next area of expansion. What I did not anticipate was how quickly they would move into everyday in-store commerce.
My assumption was that international card networks would continue to dominate checkout experience, while alternative domestic rails would remain concentrated around peer-to-peer, account-to-account and online payments.
Two developments quickly challenged that assumption and highlighted the ability of domestic instant schemes to move beyond their traditional use cases, and into everyday in-store commerce.
The first was consumer adoption. Millions of users were already making peer-to-peer payments every day directly from their bank accounts. What initially emerged as a simple and convenient way to transfer money between individuals gradually became accepted for a wider range of transactions, including payments to small businesses and merchants operating without traditional payment acceptance infrastructure.
The second was technology. NFC contactless payments through mobile have become the standard consumer experience in physical stores. As a result, domestic payment initiatives increasingly see in-store NFC acceptance as the natural next step in their evolution, enabling consumers to use their rails through the same seamless tap they experience today.
What changed my mind was realizing that alternative domestic payment schemes no longer have an adoption challenge. They have an acceptance challenge.
Bizum is a perfect example. By September, Bizum payments were accepted at more than 1.6 million Spanish merchants, covering approximately 75% of payment terminals and serving over 20 million users.
What struck me was not the scale of adoption alone. It was the ambition behind it.
Conversations were not about replacing international payment networks. They were about complementing them. Customers wanted to preserve global acceptance and familiarity while introducing a new domestic alternative that provides additional resilience, competition and local control.
One example was a European wallet provider extending its successful account-to-account payment ecosystem to in-store contactless payments. The objective was not to create a different payment journey. It was to allow consumers to use a domestic payment method through the same experience they already use every day.
That was the turning point for me.
I started the year believing user adoption was the main challenge. I now believe the next frontier is merchant acceptance.
As a result, our focus on Q4 is evolving.
We are prioritizing technologies that help account-to-account payment methods reach the point of sale. This includes wallet enablement, digital credentials, and acceptance models that allow domestic payment rails and international networks to coexist within the same consumer experience.
The lesson I learned in 2026 is simple. Payment sovereignty is no longer defined by the existence of domestic payment rails, but the ability to use them at checkout.
In 2027, adoption becomes the next test. With the technology in place and merchant acceptance expanding, sovereign wallets must give consumers a compelling reason to change established habits. The defining question is no longer whether these wallets can reach the checkout, but what distinctive value they can offer to earn a place alongside, or instead of, the OEM wallets consumers already use.
