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E-wallets vs digital banks vs traditional banks
An e-wallet is an app that holds electronic money, or e-money, issued by a company licensed as an electronic money issuer, or EMI, rather than as a bank. It's built primarily for paying, sending, and receiving money quickly, think a popular e-wallet app you use to pay for groceries or send money to a friend, and technically your balance represents a claim against the EMI's own pooled funds rather than a deposit in your name at a bank. A digital-only bank, by contrast, is licensed specifically as a bank, meaning it can do everything a traditional bank does, hold deposits, pay interest, and lend, just without any physical branches. A traditional bank is the familiar version of that same banking license, with tellers and branches you can walk into.