DP World has signed a memorandum of understanding with PayPal to roll out a digital payments solution meant to accelerate cross-border trade, bringing settlement times down from days to minutes. The agreement is part of DP World's broader Digital Payments programme, targeting merchants, shippers, exporters, importers and marketplaces with a more transparent, lower-cost infrastructure.

Under the deal, DP World will not itself act as a regulated payments provider. Instead, it plans to partner with licensed payment firms and use a mix of distributed ledger technologies and stablecoin-based mechanisms to enable compliant cross-border settlement. The initiative aims to reduce frictions in global trade by tying payment execution more closely to logistics flows.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman and CEO, emphasised that linking payments to logistics is crucial:“Speed and transparency mean everything and payments linked to logistics are no different.” He said the joint solution with PayPal will deliver faster, more transparent cross-border options without compromising on security, thereby empowering businesses across markets.

From PayPal's end, Alex Chriss, President and CEO, framed the collaboration as a step toward reengineering cross-border payments:“Traditional cross-border payment systems have long underserved global businesses,” he said, adding that the partnership aims to set a new standard in global commerce by combining trustworthy payments infrastructure with supply chain expertise.

The technical architecture is designed to accommodate regulatory requirements region by region. DP World will act as a facilitator that stitches together licensed entities, rather than acting as a full payments operator itself. The company says the platform will use distributed ledger and stablecoin tools where permissible, but always in coordination with licensed partners to ensure compliance.

Experts in trade finance see the MoU as part of a broader acceleration toward integrated logistics-fintech models. Conventional cross-border settlements often take multiple days, incur multiple foreign exchange conversions, and embed hidden costs in correspondent banking networks. A seamless payments-logistics interface promises to eliminate much of that friction for small and medium exporters especially.

Yet challenges remain. The effectiveness of the system will depend heavily on regulatory acceptance across jurisdictions, currency convertibility rules, cross-border capital controls, and the willingness of legacy banking systems to integrate or yield to newer rails. In markets with strict foreign exchange or remittance controls, the planned architecture will need to navigate these constraints carefully.

DP World sees this as a strategic play in its transformation into a trade facilitator beyond ports and terminals. It already operates a portfolio of global logistics, terminals and supply chain services. Embedding a payments layer could deepen its role and lock in customers across the trade value chain. In its announcement, the company said the digital payments initiative is integral to its long-term ambition to build a secure, scalable global marketplace for payments.

PayPal has in recent years pushed to expand its cross-border and wallet connectivity ambitions. Earlier in 2025, the firm announced“PayPal World,” a platform meant to link global payment systems and wallets, reducing friction in cross-border transfers. Through that effort, PayPal is aiming to integrate local payment systems-such as India's UPI or China's Weixin Pay-into a more unified cross-border network.

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