SEA’s “connected to both sides” advantage: Still real, but not in the way we think
In June 2026, we launched a booking campaign with one of Southeast Asia’s largest payment platforms. Within 30 days, our system registered nearly 4,000 booking requests. Demand was not the problem. But only 79 reached the deposit stage — and just 35 completed as paid transactions. Less than one per cent of real consumer intent […] The post SEA’s “connected to both sides” advantage: Still real,…
Southeast Asia's "connected to both sides" advantage is real at the infrastructure level, with payment systems like Thailand's PromptPay and Indonesia's QRIS linking to both Chinese and Western financial systems. However, this advantage does not extend to higher layers such as data, AI, and settlement. Only 35% of booking requests in Southeast Asia convert into paid transactions, indicating a significant gap between demand and revenue.
This disconnect is due to the region's geopolitical positioning, which aims to resist pressure from both China and the US while avoiding being forced into a choice it does not want to make. The region has 29 cross-border QR and peer-to-peer payment linkages, creating a SEPA-like network, but the readiness of the surface, such as trust norms and data localisation rules, is still maturing.
Founders must build on neutral infrastructure and treat each jurisdiction as its own compliance surface to achieve a truly neutral positioning.
Written by urgent.news from e27's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
