PalmPay vs Wave

traditional vs traditional · from the open dataset of 358 tracked neobanks · no affiliate links, ever

PalmPay: 35M+ users; Transsion-backed.

Wave: Radically cheap mobile money; 10M+ users.

Side by side

	PalmPay	Wave
Category	traditional	traditional
Audience	underbanked	underbanked
HQ	Lagos, NG	Dakar, SN
Founded	2019	2018
Custody	Custodial	Custodial
Regulation	Payment institution	E-money institution
Licence detail	Mobile money licence (NG)	First non-telecom e-money issuer (BCEAO)
Card	Verve/MC · Debit	No card
Cashback	Offers	—
Yield	Daily interest	—
Stablecoins	No	No
KYC	Yes	Yes
Regions	Africa	Africa
Reported users	35M users (2025)	—

go deeperFull profiles: PalmPay · Wave — or run your own comparison of up to four in the directory.

Figures compiled from public sources, for comparison only — not financial advice. "Up to" rates change constantly; always confirm with the issuer. Spotted an error? Suggest a fix.