E-Service Quality and Digital Crypto Wallet Adoption in South Asia: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis of Customer Satisfaction and Trust

The rapid proliferation of digital financial technologies has transformed the landscape of financial services in South Asia, with crypto wallets emerging as a significant medium for digital transactions. Despite growing interest, academic research examining the determinants of crypto wallet adoption within the South Asian context remains sparse. This study investigates the influence of e-service quality dimensions on digital crypto wallet adoption, with customer satisfaction and trust serving as mediating variables. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Expectation-Confirmation Model (ECM), and e-service quality theory, a conceptual framework is developed and empirically tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Primary data were collected from 387 respondents across Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The results demonstrate that e-service quality dimensions— namely reliability, responsiveness, security, ease of use, and information quality—exert significant positive effects on customer satisfaction and trust. Both customer satisfaction and trust are found to substantially mediate the relationship between e-service quality and crypto wallet adoption. These findings contribute to the burgeoning literature on digital finance adoption in emerging economies and offer practical implications for fintech developers, regulators, and policymakers in South Asia.