Grab officially introduced 13 new AI-powered features at the GrabX 2026 event held in Jakarta (Indonesia) recently, upgrading its superapp experience to serve as an intelligent everyday guide for millions across Southeast Asia.
In particular, many of these features have been and will soon be rolled out in Vietnam – one of Grab's key markets.
Notably, the feature of Tap to Pay will be announced in Vietnam. According to the rollout roadmap announced at GrabX 2026, Tap to Pay is already operational in the Philippines and Singapore. The feature is expected to expand to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand by the end of this year. In Vietnam, the launch date is set for 2027.
After Moca e-wallet ceased operations on Grab in mid-2024, the feature shows a new presence in the Vietnamese payment market. However, unlike Moca e-wallet, which targeted individual consumers (B2C), Tap to Pay is a financial feature specifically for business partners (B2B).
Accordingly, Tap to Pay feature turns GrabMerchant-enabled smartphones into a contactless payment terminal — no special hardware, no complex setup, and no lengthy onboarding. Merchants can start accepting cards and QR payments in minutes, straight from the GrabMerchant app.
Mr. Philipp Kandal, Chief Product Officer of Grab shared that he integrated feature on the merchant's device uses NFC technology to turn smartphones into point-of-sale (POS) terminals. It is suitable for small businesses that typically only accept cash or QR code payments. In reality, accepting card payments requires store owners to invest in POS machines, payment processing fees, and long-term contracts. Currently, the service fee for card swiping at POS terminals is charged by banks at approximately 0.7-3.5 per transaction.
"For all features, especially in the financial sector, we consider issues on a market-by-market basis and implement them only after obtaining the necessary licenses," Mr. Kandal affirmed. "Although we have no plans to partner with any new e-wallet in Vietnam to launch financial services by 2027, e will comply with legal procedures when developing payment features in Vietnam."
According to the 10th Southeast Asia Digital Economy Report, published last November by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the total value of transactions through digital payment methods is projected to reach $178 billion by 2025. In Vietnam, as of March 31, 2025, there are 47 licensed organizations providing e-wallet services, with nearly 46 million activated wallets and over 30 million active wallets.
The official recognition of e-wallets as a legal means of payment from July 1, 2025, under Circular 40/2024/TT-NHNN, has created an important legal foundation, placing e-wallets on par with cash and bank cards.
Following this is Circular 41/2025/TT-NHNN, which amends and supplements existing regulations with stricter provisions on customer verification, information transparency, and increased transaction limits for essential services, along with Decree 94/2025/ND-CP on a controlled testing mechanism (sandbox) for the fintech sector.
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