Phones and other devices handled 55.7% of Korea's credit and debit card spending in the first half, about 1.79 trillion won a day, Bank of Korea data show. Total card spending grew fast enough that the won amount still paid with plastic has risen since 2021, so physical cards are losing share without yet losing volume.
Reality
- Evidence64
- Adoption74
- Hype gap+8
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence62
Dragon Trail International's survey puts Korea first among Chinese Golden Week destinations at 20.1%, more than three times Japan's 6.0%. Korean retailers are answering with discounts of up to 30%, so the holiday lift they expect comes net of the offers.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption70
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives60
- Confidence55
Revolut's Pay with Smile is running at Kiss the Hippo cafes in London, matching a customer's face at the counter against the ID selfie they uploaded when they opened their account, with no processing fee for the merchant.
Reality
- Evidence42
- Adoption12
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives72
- Confidence55
Ping An, Bank of Shanghai and Bank of Hangzhou join a list that has gone from 10 to 30 in a year. Beijing is buying distribution it could not win on product.
Perspective Coverage
4 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 24%
- Operator
- Operator 36%
- Investor
- Investor 40%
Reality
- Evidence64
- Adoption52
- Hype gap+22
- Incentives62
- Confidence72
Alipay's Hangzhou launch pairs merchant adaptation tooling with the AHA interconnection protocol, 20-plus device and model partners, and subsidies aimed at buying early volume.
Reality
- Evidence30
- Adoption38
- Hype gap+34
- Incentives78
- Confidence45