Small Businesses Skip Digital Wallets for Cross-Border Payments

As global commerce becomes more digitized and less reliant on conventional infrastructure and workflows, digital wallets, a once-niche technology, are beginning to reshape international money movement.

However, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Global Money Movement: U.S. Edition,” a collaboration with TerraPay, while 63% of consumers in the United States who make cross-border payments use digital wallets, fewer than half of U.S. small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) do the same.

For a country where speed, security and convenience are prized by buyers and sellers, the digital wallet adoption gap that SMBs suffer represents a challenge and a missed opportunity.

The reasons cited by SMBs for this reluctance are pragmatic. Many cite the lack of digital wallets as an industry standard (33%) or worry over whether international partners can accept the method (27%). Security remains a persistent concern, voiced by nearly a third of non-adopting businesses. Integration, complexity and regulatory uncertainty also cloud decision making.

Still, the disconnect presents an opportunity for financial service providers. Digital wallet platforms and FinTechs that can streamline onboarding, clarify compliance and provide seamless interoperability across global networks stand to gain by converting an underserved business segment.

Digital Wallets and the Great SMB Standoff

The hesitation among SMBs isn’t arbitrary, but neither is the cost of inaction. As international commerce becomes faster and more digital, sticking to legacy payment methods may only widen the operational gap between nimble startups and slower-moving firms.

The three main benefits SMBs can unlock through digital wallet usage are security, a first-mover advantage in helping drive usage standards, and speed.

U.S. consumers like same-day delivery, instant streaming and real-time payments. As such, the report found that 54% who do not currently use digital wallets for cross-border payments say they would consider doing so for speed.

Digital wallets can reduce payment processing times from days to minutes. For SMBs seeking to build trust with international customers or suppliers, the ability to pay — or be paid — nearly instantly confers a tangible advantage. Fast money fosters goodwill.

A common misconception is that digital wallets are a riskier alternative to bank transfers. However, the opposite may soon be true. Among consumers and merchants, a growing share believes digital wallets offer more security than legacy payment channels.

For risk-conscious SMBs, digital wallets offer traceability, real-time tracking and often multilayer authentication protocols. A payment doesn’t just happen — it leaves a trail. This transparency can simplify accounting, reduce the potential for fraud, and help businesses stay compliant with a complex web of financial regulations.

These benefits are communicable. An SMB that advertises its use of secure, trackable digital wallet payments is signaling professionalism and reliability to customers and suppliers.

Once relegated to the realm of online shopping and peer-to-peer transfers, digital wallets have now emerged as a mainstream financial instrument.

One of the paradoxes of innovation is that many businesses wait for a standard before adopting a new technology, even when their own participation would help define that very standard. In the PYMNTS Intelligence report, 1 in 3 SMBs cite the lack of digital wallets as an industry norm as a reason for their abstention. This is akin to refusing to learn English until more people speak it.

Global interoperability is improving rapidly. Platforms like TerraPay are connecting digital wallets across over 150 countries, making it easy for payments to traverse borders, currencies and compliance frameworks. For SMBs, integrating with digital wallets is a form of futureproofing, a way to become fluent in the language of global commerce before the rest of the class catches up.