The adoption of cross-border payment: A comparative study of belt and road countries

This study analyzes cross-border payment systems in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries, exploring how technological, regulatory, and socioeconomic factors shape their adoption. By combining quantitative data from 43 BRI countries (2018–2024) with insights from interviews with 127 stakeholders, we identify four distinct adoption archetypes: digital pioneers (high technological and cultural acceptance), regulatory harmonizers (policy driven), institutional trust builders (focused on governance), and hybrid adopters (selective integration). Our findings reveal that successful adoption hinges on the interplay of infrastructure, regulation, and cultural attitudes, not just technology. We introduce a Cross-Border Payment Adoption Index (CPAI) to measure payment system maturity across technological, regulatory, institutional, and cultural dimensions and predict paths for integration. Our research extends the technology acceptance model to multinational contexts and offers actionable insights for policy makers and financial institutions, particularly as digital currencies reshape the BRI payment environment.