Bitget Wallet's shift from trading to payments shows how crypto is becoming part of everyday finance, not just a vehicle for investment

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, July 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bitget Wallet, a self-custodial crypto wallet for everyday finance, announced it has surpassed 100 million users globally, and that for the first time in the platform's history, daily payment users now outnumber traders. More than half of those users are based in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where people are increasingly using crypto wallets as global stablecoin accounts to save, get paid, and spend locally, rather than to trade.

That shift shows up in the data. Bitget Wallet Cards issued have surpassed 150,000 worldwide, available across 50+ markets and spendable at 150M+ merchants. Global card spending reached $31M in the first half of 2026, a 191% increase from H2 2025. In emerging markets specifically, card spend grew by 416% in the same period, showing that financial habits are forming faster in these regions than the global average. Globally, card users averaged 10 payments per month at an average transaction size of $28, consistent with everyday purchases at a frequency that reflects payment as routine. Active cardholders in the US, Europe, and Asia average between 10 and 14 swipes a month - on par with how often consumers use a debit card - while emerging markets like LatAm are catching up fast from a lower base.

The conditions driving it are structural, and specific. In Nigeria, the official naira lost over 40% of its value against the dollar in 2024; in Argentina, the peso lost a comparable share. Conventional remittance corridors into these markets still charge 5-8% per transfer on average. At the same time, both countries are among Bitget Wallet's fastest-growing markets - a direct connection between local currency instability and demand for a stable, low-cost, borderless account. In Southeast Asia and South Asia, the platform's two largest user regions, mobile-first payment infrastructure already exists; Bitget Wallet's QR payments and bank transfer rails plug into habits that are already formed.

"The next wave of users in these markets doesn't think of this as crypto," said Alvin Kan, COO of Bitget Wallet. "They have a balance in dollars, they spend it, they get paid into it, and they move it across borders. The account just happens to be onchain. What the data is showing us is that this is becoming routine, and what starts as routine in these markets tends to define what global finance looks like next." In a COO letter published, Kan reflects on the turning points that shaped the platform over the past eight years.

Eight years ago, Bitget Wallet launched as a trading tool for crypto natives. In the last two years, the product was substantially rebuilt around a different use case: the infrastructure that today spans card issuance across 50+ markets, QR payment rails across Southeast Asia and LatAm, and direct bank integrations serving users in Nigeria, Mexico, and Bangladesh didn't exist at the last major milestone. The Onchain Payments Matrix, the settlement infrastructure behind these flows, now spans 80+ payment rails across 100+ currencies and has settled more than $177 billion in stablecoin volume.

More insights and the full data report can be found on the Bitget Wallet blog.

About Bitget Wallet

Bitget Wallet is a self-custodial crypto wallet built for everyday finance. Since 2018, it has given 100M+ users worldwide an onchain account to save, spend, and invest in crypto, supporting 1M+ tokens across 130+ blockchains, 100+ fiat currencies, Visa/Mastercard crypto cards, and localized payment methods. Its security is backed by industry-standard key encryption, a real-time risk engine, independent audits, and a US$300M+ user protection fund. In 2022, Bitget Wallet raised a US$100M funding round led by Dragonfly. For media information, visit web3.bitget.com.

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