Wallet Provider

A wallet provider is a business that offers customers a digital wallet for storing value or payment credentials and making payments. Providers fall into a few broad groups. Stored-value wallet providers, such as e-money issuers and mobile money operators, hold customers' money and usually need a licence, for example as an electronic money institution in Europe or a money transmitter in the United States. Pass-through wallet providers, such as the phone-based wallets of large technology firms, store tokenised card details and pass payments to the card issuer without holding funds themselves. In crypto, a custodial wallet provider controls the private keys for its users and is generally regulated as a virtual asset service provider, while a non-custodial wallet provider only supplies software. Many companies also launch wallets through wallet-as-a-service platforms, which supply the technology and sometimes the licence.