Online shopping has been at the heart of an economic revolution for more than fifteen years.

Connected consumers have more choice than ever, and can select goods and services from a range of providers both within their own markets and across borders. Currently worth around $2.5 trillion annually, it’s estimated business to consumer e-commerce will be worth about $7.4 trillion by 20301 – around one-third of today’s entire US economic output. According to consultants McKinsey and Company, more than one dollar in seven ($1 trillion) of this value will be transacted across borders.

AstroPay explains that while this is great news all round, specific challenges in cross-border e-commerce have hampered growth. These include merchants’ capacity to accept a wide range of domestic and regional payment methods and slow settlement of funds between different countries.