# Bit > Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/bit > research date 2026-05-29 · extracted at 2026-10-06 > Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards Specifications: - [Bit — official (Bank Hapoalim)](https://bitpay.poalimlinks.co.il/app/) - [Bit — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(payment_application)) - [Bit becomes Israel's first digital wallet — Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/jpost-tech/ahead-of-apple-pay-bank-hapoalim-launches-israels-first-digital-wallet-659272) ## Overview **Bit** is **Israel's dominant mobile P2P payment app**, operated by **Bank Hapoalim** (Israel's largest bank) and the dominant member of the **Bit–PayBox duopoly** that defines Israeli wallet payments [2][2], [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL). Bit holds approximately **90 % market share** in P2P payment-transfer transactions, with **~3.5 million customers** (a remarkable share of Israel's ~7.5M adults) and **80 % of Israeli money transfers through person-to-person apps** flow through Bit [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL). Like [Tikkie QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/tikkie-qr) (NL) and [Payme](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/payme) (HK), Bit is a structurally unusual case: a **single-bank-developed P2P product that achieved cross-bank dominance** — Bank Hapoalim built Bit but it works with any Israeli bank's customers. In **February 2021**, the **Bank of Israel approved Bit's transition into a full digital wallet** — adding card-storage and tap-to-pay capabilities to its P2P foundation [3][3]. This **made Bit Israel's first digital wallet** — ahead of Apple Pay's Israeli launch — and structurally repositioned Bit from a P2P utility into a full wallet competing with NFC payment apps. Bit operates at significant **operational losses** (~NIS 700M cumulative since launch per public reports) [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL) — reflecting the **strategic-loss-leader model** Bank Hapoalim has used to entrench Bit before introducing fees (which began January 2025 for high-volume users). ## History **Background — Israeli payment landscape pre-Bit** [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): - High banking penetration; card payments dominant. - **Shva** (banking-consortium card-clearing network) → backbone for cards. - **No national unified QR standard** — Israel never created an equivalent to [SGQR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/sgqr) / [DuitNow QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/duitnow-qr). - Pre-Bit P2P payments meant **bank transfer with full account number** — painful UX. **~2017 — Bit launches** [2][2], [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): - **Bank Hapoalim** launches Bit via its internal innovation team **POINT (Poalim Innovation Team)**. - Initial proposition: **free P2P payments by phone-contact-list** with any Israeli bank customer. - **Charges sender's credit card → deposits in receiver's bank account**. **Rapid adoption** [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): - Bit becomes Israel's de facto P2P standard. - Cultural-noun emergence: "send me Bit" enters Israeli vernacular. **February 2021 — Bank of Israel approves Bit as digital wallet** [3][3]: - **Bank of Israel formally approves Bit's transition into a digital wallet**. - Adds card-storage and NFC tap-to-pay. - **First Israeli digital wallet** — ahead of Apple Pay's Israeli launch. **2024-2025 — Statistics + fee introduction** [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): - **3.5M customers** (~47 % Israeli adults). - **90 % market share** in P2P app transfers. - **NIS 700M cumulative losses since launch** — strategic loss-leader funding. - **January 2025** — Bit introduces fees for high-volume users. **Bit-PayBox duopoly** [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): - **Bit**: 90 % share, 3.5M users. - **[PayBox](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/paybox) (Discount Bank)**: ~10 % share, 1.4M users (also operates at loss, ~NIS 250M). ## Technical specification Bit is **a P2P-app-evolved-to-digital-wallet** [2][2], [3][3]: | Layer | Description | |---|---| | **Operator** | **Bank Hapoalim** (Israel's largest bank) | | **Regulator** | **Bank of Israel (BOI)** | | **Underlying card rail** | Israeli card-clearing network (**Shva**) — charges sender's credit card | | **Settlement** | Sender's card charged → receiver's bank account deposited | | **Currency** | NIS (Israeli new shekel) | | **Identifier** | Phone contact list | | **QR support** | QR codes for personal-identification and merchant payment | | **NFC** | Tap-to-pay (since February 2021 BOI approval as digital wallet) | | **EMVCo compliance** | Not confirmed; appears proprietary at the QR layer | **Payment flow** [2][2]: - Sender opens Bit → selects recipient from contact list (or scans QR) → enters amount → biometric/PIN confirm. - Bit **charges sender's credit card** for the transaction amount. - **Deposits funds directly into recipient's bank account** (irrespective of recipient's bank). - Cross-bank reach: works with any Israeli bank's customers. **Card-rail mediation (structural distinction)** [2][2]: - Unlike most peer P2P apps that ride on instant-bank-transfer rails ([Bizum](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/bizum) on Iberpay, [PayNow QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/paynow-qr) on FAST, [Zelle QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/zelle-qr) on RTP), **Bit's underlying rail is the credit-card network** — sender's card is charged, receiver's bank account credited. - This makes Bit structurally a **wallet-mediated-card-payment-redirect-to-bank-deposit** rather than a pure A2A. ## Use cases **P2P transfers** [2][2], [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): Cardinal use case; 90% of Israeli P2P app transfers happen via Bit. **Merchant payments** [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): 2.5M+ active Bit users use it for payments at retail, food, consumer products, energy, insurance, pensions, and more sectors. **NFC tap-to-pay (since Feb 2021)** [3][3]: Card-storage + tap-to-pay competing with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay. **Cross-bank reach** [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): Works with **any Israeli bank's customers** — receiver doesn't need to be a Bank Hapoalim customer. **QR for personal identification** [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): Show personal QR → friend scans → request payment. ## Implementations & ecosystem **Owner / operator**: **Bank Hapoalim** (Israel's largest bank). **Development team**: **POINT (Poalim Innovation Team)** — Bank Hapoalim's internal innovation arm. **Compatibility**: Works with **any Israeli bank customer** — receiver's bank doesn't matter. **Major competitor**: **PayBox** (operated by Israel Discount Bank) — 10 % market share, 1.4M users. **Card-network partners**: Israeli card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Isracard, Leumi Card) via Shva clearing. **No public open-source SDK** has been identified — Bit integration via Bank Hapoalim relationships. ## Fun facts - **NIS 700M cumulative losses to entrench dominance**: Bank Hapoalim has reportedly absorbed NIS ~700 million in cumulative losses since Bit's launch — a **strategic loss-leader play** to entrench Bit before monetisation. Fee introduction began **January 2025** for high-volume users. - **90 % P2P market share**: Among the most dominant single-app P2P share globally — comparable to [Swish QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/swish-qr) (SE) or [BLIK](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/blik) (PL). - **Single-bank product → cross-bank dominance**: Bit, [Tikkie QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/tikkie-qr) (NL), and [Payme](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/payme) (HK) form a small club of single-bank-developed P2P products that work for an entire national banking ecosystem. All three: structurally noteworthy. - **First Israeli digital wallet (Feb 2021 BOI approval)**: Bit became Israel's first digital wallet — ahead of Apple Pay's Israeli launch. Bank Hapoalim moved before global tech giants captured the NFC tap-to-pay opportunity. - **Charges credit card, deposits to bank**: Bit's structural model is unusual — sender's credit card is charged (not direct A2A bank transfer); funds deposited into receiver's bank account. This means Bit transactions appear on credit-card statements with associated rewards. - **"Send me Bit" cultural-noun**: Bit has reached cultural-noun status in Israeli Hebrew alongside global peers — "תשלח לי ביט" ("send me a Bit"). - **Bit-PayBox duopoly**: Israel's P2P market is a near-duopoly: Bit (90%, Bank Hapoalim) + PayBox (10%, Discount Bank). Other Israeli banks (Leumi, Mizrahi-Tefahot) have failed to scale competing apps. - **2.5M active users for merchant payments**: Of the 3.5M total customers, 2.5M actively use Bit for merchant payments — strong merchant-side adoption. - **NIS 700M loss model**: A reminder that **dominant P2P apps often operate at sustained losses for years** before monetisation — Venmo, Cash App, Bit, PayBox all share this dynamic. ## Comparison | Feature | Bit (IL) | [Payme](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/payme) (HK) | [Tikkie QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/tikkie-qr) (NL) | [Bizum](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/bizum) (ES) | [Venmo QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/venmo-qr) (US) | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Operator | Bank Hapoalim (single bank) | HSBC (single bank) | ABN AMRO (single bank) | Bizum SL (bank consortium) | PayPal | | Launch | ~2017 | Feb 2017 | 2016 | Oct 2016 | 2009 (founded) | | Users | 3.5M (~47 % adults) | 3.3M (~44 % adults) | n/a (157M txns/yr) | ~24M (~70 % adults) | ~80M US | | Market share | **90 % P2P app** | Dominant | Universal Dutch reach | 70 % Spanish adults | ~50 % US P2P | | Cross-bank reach | Yes | Yes (FPS overlay) | Yes (Dutch bank-account) | Yes (consortium) | Closed | | Underlying rail | **Credit-card mediated** | HKMA FPS | iDEAL / SCT Inst | Iberpay SCT Inst | PayPal/ACH | | Profitability | Loss (~NIS 700M cumulative) | n/a | n/a | n/a | Profitable (in PayPal) | **Closest peer**: [Payme](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/payme) (HK) and [Tikkie QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/tikkie-qr) (NL) — both single-bank-developed-but-cross-bank-used P2P products. Bit is the Israeli member of this trio. **Structural distinction**: Bit's **credit-card-mediated rail** (rather than direct A2A) is unusual among national P2P leaders — more like Apple Pay's wallet-redirection model than [Bizum](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/bizum)'s direct-bank-transfer model. ## Status **Active, dominant Israeli P2P** [2][2], [3][3], [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL): - **3.5M customers** (~47 % Israeli adults). - **90 % market share** in P2P app transfers. - **First Israeli digital wallet** (BOI approval Feb 2021). - **Operates at NIS 700M cumulative loss** (strategic loss-leader). - **Fees introduced January 2025** for high-volume users. - **Cross-bank reach** via card-network mediation. **Outlook**: Continued dominance over PayBox; possible international expansion (limited by card-rail dependence and Israeli regulatory framework); monetisation ramp under recently-introduced fee structure; competitive pressure from Apple Pay / Google Pay on NFC tap-to-pay. ## Sources [1]: https://bitpay.poalimlinks.co.il/app/ "Bit — official (Bank Hapoalim)" [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(payment_application) "Bit — Wikipedia" [3]: https://www.jpost.com/jpost-tech/ahead-of-apple-pay-bank-hapoalim-launches-israels-first-digital-wallet-659272 "Bit becomes Israel's first digital wallet — Jerusalem Post" - [1] [Bit — official (Bank Hapoalim)][1] - [2] [Bit — Wikipedia][2] - [3] [Bit becomes Israel's first digital wallet — Jerusalem Post][3] - [Israel report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL) `reports/countries/IL-israel.md` ## Deployments Found in the following country reports (grep across `reports/countries/`): - **IL** — [IL-israel.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/IL)