Money20/20 Europe is where the fintech and payments industry comes to take the temperature of the market. Banks, fintechs, technology providers, platforms, investors, consultants, and regulators all end up in the same place for three days of meetings, demos, product conversations, and, inevitably, a few surprises.
And for Wallester, this year’s event, which took place from 2 to 4 June, was exactly that kind of week.
We came to Amsterdam with a large team, a highly visible stand, three visitor activations, a full calendar of meetings, and 9 MacBooks Neo to give away. Across three days, hundreds of people stopped by our booth to talk about card issuing, embedded finance, expense management, partnerships, and the future of business payments.
By the end of the event, Wallester had collected 546 contacts, including 257 qualified leads. Even more importantly, the booth became one of the most active points of engagement on the floor.
A Booth Built for Conversations
This year, our stand was designed to do more than display a logo and wait for visitors to arrive. It was built to create movement, bring people in, and make conversations easier to start.
Visitors could speak with our team, explore Wallester Business and White-Label solutions, join one of our activations, record short video interviews, take photos, collect merchandise, and enter the giveaway for one of 9 MacBooks Neo.
The mix worked.
The booth attracted both serious business conversations and a constant flow of people taking part in the activities. Some visitors came for a meeting. Some came for the racing track. Some came for the photo booth. And many stayed to learn more about Wallester.
Marija Krupenjova, Event & Sponsorship Manager at Wallester, says the feedback was strong throughout the event.
“Overall, we received a lot of positive feedback regarding our booth. Some visitors mentioned the attractive design concept, while others highlighted the activities we offered. Of course, we also heard many comments about the wide range of merchandise available at our booth and how different it was compared to other exhibitors.”
Three Activations, Hundreds of Participants
The stand featured three main activations: a racing track, a photo booth, and a video interview corner.
The racing track was one of the biggest draws. Over the course of the event, 555 participants took part in the challenge, with visitors competing for the best time and a chance to win one of the MacBooks Neo. The setup created a constant sense of movement around the booth and gave people a reason to come back, check the leaderboard, and keep the conversation going.
The photo booth also proved popular, with 116 visitors creating photos at the stand. Some used it as a quick conference memory, others as social content, and many tagged Wallester when sharing it online.
The third activation focused on video. During the event, 31 people visited the booth to record short interviews, which were filmed and edited by the team. These conversations gave attendees a chance to share their views on fintech, payments, business growth, and what they were seeing at Money20/20.
Together, these activations gave the stand a clear rhythm: talk, race, record, post, and come back later to see who won.
9 MacBooks Neo, 190 Social Posts, and Serious Reach
The MacBooks Neo giveaway was one of the strongest engagement drivers of the week.
Visitors could take part in booth activities, post on social media, tag Wallester, and enter the giveaway. In total, 190 social media posts tagged Wallester during the event, representing the number of giveaway participants. The potential audience reach from those posts was estimated at 510,937 people.
Across the three days, 9 MacBooks Neo were awarded to winners. The giveaway helped create visibility, but it also did something more important: it turned the booth into an active meeting point. People returned to check results, follow announcements, participate again, and bring colleagues with them.
Merchandise That Made People Happy
Of course, it would not be a Wallester event without merchandise.
This year’s selection was broad, practical, and deliberately varied. Visitors could pick up T-shirts, chocolate cards, key holders, phone cases, fitness towels, phone lanyards, bottles, notebooks, pens, pins, socks, stickers, cleaning cloths, calendars, mints, shoppers, thermocups, camera covers, carabiner holders, lanyards, power banks, umbrellas, travel pillows, and more.
The wide range became part of the booth experience. Some items were useful, some were fun, and some simply made people stop and ask what else was available. In a crowded exhibition hall, that’s what matters.
As Marija noted, visitors repeatedly commented not only on the booth design and activities, but also on how different the merchandise felt compared with what they had seen elsewhere.
What We Heard on the Ground
Beyond the activations, Money20/20 was first and foremost about business conversations.
Wallester’s team spoke with fintechs, banks, software platforms, payment companies, consultants, and businesses looking for more flexible financial infrastructure.
According to Karine Martinez, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Wallester, three topics consistently appeared throughout discussions this year: interoperability, trusted and compliant payment experiences, and, unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence.
“Interoperability, delivering a safe, trusted and compliant payment experience, and of course AI were among the most common topics we discussed throughout the event,” Martinez says.
The nature of those conversations also felt different compared to previous years.
“Companies came more prepared this year. Traffic looked lighter, but most exhibitors had clearly done the work beforehand. Meetings were booked in advance, and the quality of discussions and exchanges was very good,” she adds.
Certain sectors stood out in particular.
“We saw particularly strong interest from SME banking providers, lenders, companies focused on cross-border and international transfers, as well as businesses exploring stablecoin-related opportunities,” Martinez says.
Asked to summarise Money20/20 Europe 2026 in a single sentence, Martinez pointed to a shift that goes beyond products themselves.
“If there was one lesson from Money20/20 this year, it’s that products have become table stakes. The real competitive advantage is building a brand that people genuinely connect with, trust, and want to be associated with,” she says.
More Than Three Days in Amsterdam
Money20/20 is always intense. This year, it was also highly productive.
For Wallester, the event brought together brand visibility, partner conversations, product discussions, social media engagement, and direct commercial opportunities. It gave visitors a chance to meet the team, experience the brand, and understand what Wallester is building across corporate expense management, card issuing, and embedded finance.
A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by the booth, joined the racing challenge, took a photo, recorded an interview, tagged us on social media, or simply came over for a conversation.
The event may be over, but the conversations are only getting started.
Of course, see you at the next one.
