Conversation with EBANX Co-Founder and Global CEO João Del Valle: Emerging Markets Reshape the Core of Consumption, AI and Stablecoins Evolve Trading Order

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China Economic Daily reporter: Tu Yinghao    China Economic Daily editor: Huang Sheng

As Qingming approaches, spring is in full swing. Recently, at a media briefing along the Huangpu River, global payments platform EBANX released its annual flagship report, Beyond Borders 2026, charting the “map for a decade” of the future of global digital commerce.

While global attention is still fixed on traditional developed economies, EBANX’s report uses data to reveal a profound shift in the growth engine of global digital commerce—emerging markets are becoming the undisputed core driving force.

After the event, EBANX co-founder and global CEO João Del Valle, together with the global chief product officer and Singapore regional CEO Eduardo de Abreu, accepted an exclusive interview with China Business News reporters.

Eduardo believes that over the next decade, more than 1 billion new digital consumers will be born in emerging markets, but the “fragmentation” of the payments ecosystem will exist as well.

The essence of transactions is being quietly reshaped by technological forces. The Beyond Borders 2026 report reveals that two major trends are combining to power this silent revolution: Agentic AI (agentic artificial intelligence) is beginning to take over consumer decision-making, while proactive search is gradually shifting to “AI handling it for you”; meanwhile, in emerging markets amid economic volatility, despite many problems, cryptocurrencies represented by stablecoins are transforming from speculative assets into a survival strategy—already a must-have for asset preservation.

“Together, these point to a new global transaction order that is highly automated, frictionless, and fluid worldwide.” João said in the interview.

EBANX co-founder and global CEO João Del Valle (photo provided by interviewee)

Emerging markets drive a new decade of global digital consumption, while the payments ecosystem tilts toward localization

In conventional thinking, global consumption growth is often equated with high-income groups in developed economies. But the Beyond Borders 2026 report points out: “Emerging markets will be the main engine of global growth in the next decade.”

The more optimistic data-driven projection behind this claim is this—by 2036, emerging markets will add more than 1 billion consumers, driving global consumer scale to grow by 32%, far surpassing the mere 3% increase in developed economies. Among them, consumer growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and India is expected to surge by 70% and 52% respectively. Consumer spending is projected to rise by as much as 122% and 147% respectively, far higher than the 49% seen in Europe and the U.S.

The report also reveals an even more critical structural change: the driving force for this growth will no longer be only high-income groups in the traditional sense. In multiple emerging markets such as Vietnam, India, Nigeria, Kenya, Peru, and Brazil, middle-income and low-to-middle-income groups have become the core contributors to online consumption.

In Vietnam, middle-income groups together account for 86% of online consumption; in India, middle-income groups contribute 72% of digital consumption, reaching nearly 700 million people.

At the same time, the main force in consumption is showing a clear trend toward younger users. In places like Nigeria, Kenya, and the Philippines, young users under 30 dominate consumption in high-growth areas such as gaming, streaming, and online education.

“This change in the growth structure directly determines the transformation of payment methods.” Eduardo emphasized in the interview.

According to the report data, credit card ownership rates in emerging markets are generally far lower than the 91% ownership rate in developed countries—for example, 3% in the Philippines, 6% in India and Indonesia, and 44% in Brazil. Meanwhile, across different emerging markets, the mainstream payment methods differ: India’s UPI (Immediate Payment System), Brazil’s Pix (a national instant payment system), and localized payment methods such as digital wallets in the Philippines firmly occupy the leading position in their ecosystems.

Eduardo noted that because these payment methods are characterized by being fast, low-cost, and widely accessible, they are broadly used for personal transfers (P2P) and e-commerce payments—driving financial inclusion and the growth of regional digital economies. This also means that if cross-border businesses want to capture these “next billion-level” consumers, they cannot rely only on international credit card networks. They must make a certain degree of compromise toward complex and diverse local payments ecosystems.

In 2012, in order to help AliExpress enter the Brazilian market lacking international credit cards, EBANX successfully broke the deadlock by integrating Boleto (a local voucher-based payment method).

João said that today, China’s outbound-facing companies—from early Alibaba to now SHEIN, Temu, BYD, Didi, Meituan, and others—continue to expand markets such as Latin America. Now, almost all of them are leading companies in relevant categories in the Brazilian and Mexican markets, and their payment methods are also highly diversified, including credit cards and digital payment methods such as transfers between accounts (like Pix).

Eduardo concluded, “Connecting the global merchants with the local payments ecosystems of emerging markets enables consumers, no matter where they are, to buy global goods and services in the way they know best and find most convenient. This is the foundation of digital-era commerce enabling financial inclusion.”

The evolution of transactions— a new order for AI agents and stablecoins

If payment ecosystem reconstruction solves the question of “how to pay,” then the evolution of transactions is trying to address the questions of “who is paying” and “what is being paid for.”

With the explosion of Agentic AI (agentic artificial intelligence), consumers are shifting gradually from proactive search to having “AI handle it for you.” Research data shows that currently about 10% of consumers have started an online shopping journey through AI, while 20% of consumers say they are willing to let AI complete the purchase on their behalf.

Eduardo also shared a forward-looking data point in the interview—by 2030, up to 30% of global e-commerce transaction value will be influenced by Agentic AI. There’s no doubt that this is a relatively disruptive concept.

In the past, we were used to browsing, comparing prices, and placing orders on Amazon or Taobao. But in 2026 today, e-commerce has started moving from browsing-style shopping to “conversational purchasing.” Consumers may no longer need to open a webpage—they only need to tell the AI: “I need a shirt suitable for summer, with a budget around 100 yuan.” The AI agent will automatically complete the entire process of searching, comparing prices, placing the order, and even paying.

Eduardo believes that for cross-border payments, this means the disappearance of the “checkout experience.” In the future, payments will be a series of automated instructions carried out in the background by AI. AI channels will intelligently route and select a best payment path to complete payment in the most efficient way—so the checkout experience can be better, rather than at the moment users click “confirm payment.”

But at the same time, it also brings new risks. As Eduardo is concerned: “If an AI buys the wrong thing, who should be responsible?” Is it the user, the platform, or the AI developer? This requires cross-border payment service providers not only to handle the flow of funds, but also to have the capability to process AI intent recognition, anti-fraud measures, and responsibility attribution.

If Agentic AI solves the question of “who is paying,” then the remaining thing to consider is another question—“what is being paid for”?

In the charts presented in Beyond Borders 2026, digital currency is growing fastest in emerging markets. In countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, and Vietnam, more than 15% of the population holds digital currency; in Turkey, this proportion is close to 20%. Meanwhile, stablecoins are gradually becoming a key financial infrastructure—in Argentina, about 20% of the population uses cryptocurrencies, 90% of which are stablecoins.

This reveals another side of emerging markets: macroeconomic instability. In countries with high inflation like Argentina, the purchasing power of fiat currency shrinks rapidly. For local consumers, holding stablecoins has become a survival strategy—and it is already a must for asset preservation.

João pointed out two major characteristics of stablecoins in the interview: speed and accessibility. Compared with some infrastructure network gaps in the SWIFT system, stablecoins provide nearly instant global liquidity. But João also acknowledged that today, there is not yet a complete consensus on who the sovereign entity is that holds the relevant stablecoins. This requires better capital controls, anti–money laundering measures, and anti-terrorism regulations to help everyone use cryptocurrencies more effectively.

This is the blueprint sketched by Beyond Borders 2026—and it also serves as a hint for cross-border businesses: in the future, roughly one billion new emerging-market consumers and the fragmentation of payments may coexist, while technological leaps will reshape the essence of transactions. For Chinese companies going overseas, understanding these means getting the entry ticket to the next decade of consumer growth gold.

China Business News