As platforms grow and transaction volumes increase, the ability to process payments at scale becomes a key competitive advantage. When transaction volumes grow, platforms face increased pressure to manage potential breaks, deliver smooth user experiences, and optimize operations. These large platforms manage complex multi-party flows, millions of transactions including pay-ins and payouts, and payment operations. At every stage, there is substantial movement of funds and data that requires flexibility and control. Therefore, they need a scalable and unified system that can handle high-volume multi-party transactions. And this is where wallet infrastructure makes a difference.
Currently, 30% of global consumer purchases are now made through platforms that rely on wallet-based and instant payment methods, showing a notable shift toward ecosystems that enable instant, seamless transactions directly within platforms. By integrating a scalable in-platform wallet infrastructure, businesses can reduce payment fragmentation, automate fund flows, and offer seamless payment experiences to users - all within one ecosystem.
In the following sections, we’ll look at how fast-growing platforms can make the most of wallet infrastructure over traditional payment systems, to streamline financial operations, unlock new revenue streams, and scale with confidence.
As platforms grow and handle more financial transactions, they often run into roadblocks with legacy payment systems. These obstacles can slow down operations, drive up costs, and complicate the flow of funds between platform participants - end-users, businesses, and service providers - resulting in a frustrating experience for everyone involved.
Here are the key pain points platforms face when relying on conventional payment systems.
Most platforms work with multiple payment providers to support different regions, currencies, and payment methods. However, the funds are spread across multiple acquirers, making it difficult to track payments and manage fees. The lack of a centralized system means inconsistent settlement times, higher transaction costs, and constant adjustment to the different rules, processes, and technical requirements of each payment provider platform work with.
When payments go to different acquirers, reconciliation turns into a slow and error-prone task. Finance teams have to match transactions, fix mismatches, and make sure payouts are correct. Without automation, this adds extra work, causes payment delays, and makes managing finances more complicated than it needs to be.
Traditional payment systems offer little control over how funds move within a platform. For example, in large supply chain transactions, buyers often pay suppliers only after goods are received and inspected. A wallet ecosystem enables platforms to dynamically reconcile partial payments, releasing funds based on predefined milestones (e.g., shipment departure, customs clearance, final delivery). Traditional payment systems struggle to provide this level of transactional flexibility.
Rigid payment systems make it difficult for platforms to create payment workflows that match their business models. Whether they need to split payments, apply transaction fees at specific points, schedule transactions, or customize other aspects of the payment flow, many systems lack the flexibility to support these needs, forcing platforms to work within predefined structures that don’t always fit their operation needs.
Platforms need a wallet infrastructure that offers more flexibility and control over payment flows, automates reconciliation, and brings out new revenue lines and growth opportunities. In the next section, we’ll explore how platforms can take the most out of the wallet infrastructure. But first, let’s go over some key terms to make sure the wallet-based concepts are clear.
A platform can create different types of wallets:
User wallets, which belong to an individual or business using the platform. This wallet allows them to hold funds, make payments, or receive money from others.
Platform or client wallets, which belong to the platform, and come in two types: one for collecting fees, and another for managing funds related to disputes like chargebacks or refunds.
In addition to these types, wallets can also serve as building blocks that enable platforms to customize wallets tailored to specific use cases, such as tip wallets, tax wallets, loyalty points wallets, and more.
The wallet infrastructure holds the capabilities to streamline money movement and enable different use cases. At Mangopay, money movements are processed in three key stages:
1. Pay-in. Funds enter the Mangopay system. Users can pay with their preferred option by choosing from a wide rage of international and local payment methods.
2. Wallet. Once received, funds are stored in user wallets. Wallets help group, hold, or transfer funds while supporting features like virtual IBANs and currency conversion. Transfers between wallets allow platforms to move money between users, collect fees, split payments, and convert currencies.
3. Payout. Funds are withdrawn to the user’s bank account. Mangopay enables global payouts with real-time payment options and quick verification for individuals and businesses.
Lastly, the wallet ecosystem combines wallet capabilities with payment capabilities to enable platforms to tap into new revenue streams, enrich customer experiences on top of the wallets, and scale faster. Platforms can move money their way, offer financial services to their users, issue local accounts with virtual IBANs and, ultimately achieve agile and scalable operations in a single ecosystem.
For platforms handling large transaction volumes, a wallet infrastructure provides the flexibility and control needed to scale faster. It goes beyond simple payment processing, enabling platforms to automate financial operations, and create new revenue opportunities. Here’s what that means in practice:
Move funds within wallets, enabling real-time transfers and custom payment flows.
Create unlimited wallets, splits, and transfers, with customizable fee collection and fund holds.
Manage currency conversions on your terms, by deciding when and at what rates, with built-in FX capabilities.
Use Mangopay or any other acquirer while still benefiting from the full flexibility of wallet infrastructure.
Optimize payment costs by integrating multiple PSPs, allowing for payment optimization and reduced fees.
Expand into new markets faster by working with the payment partners that best suit your strategy.
Consolidate all settlements into a single, unified view
Streamline reconciliation across multiple payment providers, eliminating manual tracking.
Access one reporting engine that covers all payment operations, removing fragmented data silos.
Monetize transactions by offering wallet-based financial services.
Provide users with custom financial solutions that increase engagement and retention.
A wallet-based infrastructure provides a better way to manage transactions than legacy systems do. Let’s take a look at the key differences that matter most to your business:
Decoupled payment flows: a wallet-based infrastructure separates pay-ins and payouts, allowing funds to be stored and moved independently.
Automate payment flows: with programmable wallets, you can automate transactions based on custom rules, and thus execute rules-based transactions in real time.
Direct wallet transactions: Payments can be processed between wallets without the need for external bank settlements.
Multi-acquirer flexibility: instead of relying on a single acquirer, wallet-based models support multiple acquirers, improving settlement options.
Hold and release funds based on custom rules: traditional providers impose fixed time and amount restrictions, while wallet-based systems allow funds to be held indefinitely.
Greater customization and control: wallet infrastructures enable platforms to manage FX operations and tailor payment flows through APIs as they move through the ecosystem - they’re not constrained by pre-defined card or bank rules.
Revenue optimization: instead of rigid templates, wallet-based solutions offer customizable money movement and white-labeled experiences.
Reduced FX cost: because you can control when and where FX occurs within your payment flow, you can minimize unnecessary and expensive FX fees, something that traditional PSPs don’t allow.
The complexity and scale of today’s platform economy require wallet-based solutions that enable seamless fund movement, faster reconciliation, and the ability to hold and manage funds as needed.
Most traditional payment solutions were built for linear transactions, such as one-time payments from a payer to a payee. However, platforms operate in multi-party ecosystems, requiring more flexible fund management. Whether managing marketplace transactions, gig economy payouts, or investment fund distributions, platforms need a system that adapts to their needs, not the other way around.
What’s more, payments have traditionally been treated as an unavoidable expense tied to transaction processing fees. The shift toward wallet infrastructures changes this mindset, giving businesses the ability to monetize transactions, introduce embedded financial services, and generate new revenue streams. The more payments a business processes, the more essential it becomes to have a wallet system for efficient money movement and more. A wallet infrastructure keeps up with volume, and it also optimizes the payment experience, allowing platforms to offer instant transactions, create loyalty-driven financial models, and keep users engaged within their ecosystem.
With more platforms expanding internationally, cross-border payments and currency conversion are more critical than ever. Traditional banking systems come with slow settlements, high FX fees, and a lack of transparency. A wallet infrastructure enables platforms to control when and how FX happens, reducing costs and offering transparency over FX operations.
Considering all the above, we believe it's fair to say that for fast-growing businesses, the future is wallet-driven. We see it every day through the success of our clients, in conversations with leading platforms, and in the market itself. Platforms are shifting away from legacy systems toward more integrated, flexible, and revenue-generating payment solutions.
For over a decade, Mangopay’s wallet infrastructure has been empowering top-tier platforms to scale and take control of their payment flows. Industry players like Vinted, ManoMano, Paybyrd, Sorare, Malt, Travelnest, Mobile.de, and many more have been using our solution to grow faster, simplify operations, and lead in the global platform economy.
Contact us to learn how to make the most of our wallet infrastructure and optimize your payment volumes.