dLocal

dLocal: Local Payment Infrastructure For Global Merchants

dLocal is a payment service provider focused on helping global merchants accept and send payments in emerging markets through a single platform and API. It connects enterprise merchants to more than 40 markets and over 900 local and alternative payment methods, with a strong focus on cross-border and local-to-local payment flows.

dLocal Overview For Merchants

dLocal is a unified payments platform for enterprise merchants that need to reach consumers in high-growth markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America. It supports both payins, where merchants collect local payment methods from customers, and payouts, where they send funds to staff, partners and users in local currencies.

The company launched in 2016 with the goal of connecting global merchants and emerging market consumers and has since expanded to serve more than 40 markets and 900 plus local payment methods.

Coverage, Markets And Payment Methods

dLocal highlights coverage of over 40 markets with more than 900 local and alternative payment methods available through one API.

The platform focuses on high-growth regions, especially:

• Latin America

• Africa

• Asia and selected markets in the Middle East

From a payment method perspective, dLocal supports a broad range of local rails, including:

• Local and international cards via card payments

• Bank transfers and instant account-to-account schemes through real-time payments products

• Digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Wallet and other wallets documented in its wallet payment flows

• Cash based vouchers and over-the-counter cash payment options, including popular voucher formats in Latin America

Core Products And Payment Flows

dLocal structures its offering into several core product lines that can be combined via the same platform.

Payins

Payins enable merchants to accept local payment methods from customers and optimize authorization and conversion. The product is designed for cross-border and local-to-local collection across Africa, Asia and Latin America and includes Smart Routing and Smart Chaining to recover failed transactions by retrying through alternative routes and acquirers.

Payouts

Payouts allow merchants to send funds to vendors, contractors and customers in multiple countries using a single API. The Payouts V3 API provides a standardized interface for cross-border disbursements, with built-in validation, security controls, compliance checks and currency conversion. Supported payout methods include bank accounts, instant payment schemes, card payouts and cash pick-up, depending on the country.

This is relevant for use cases such as marketplace seller payouts, gig-economy workers, refunds and partner settlements.

dLocal For Platforms

dLocal for Platforms targets marketplaces, SaaS platforms and other multi-sided ecosystems that need to onboard and pay many sub-merchants or users. It offers:

• Onboarding and KYC flows for sub-merchants and other user accounts

• Support for accepting and splitting payments between multiple parties

• Payout capabilities in local currencies

• Access to the same 40 plus markets and 900 plus payment methods via one integration

The KYC component includes automated checks, identity validation and sanction screening, with status updates provided through webhooks.

Invoice Collection And Other Solutions

Invoice Collection is aimed at invoicing and accounts receivable scenarios, where merchants need to collect funds from business clients in local currencies with consolidated reconciliation.

In addition, the broader product portfolio includes targeted industry solutions and tooling for subscriptions, travel, retail, payroll and HR, each built on the same underlying payins and payouts infrastructure.

Fraud Management And Compliance

Fraud and risk management is delivered primarily through dLocal’s Defense Suite and associated risk tooling. Defense Suite is described as a comprehensive fraud management solution for global ecommerce companies, combining:

• Transaction scoring

• Device fingerprinting

• Machine learning models for anomaly detection

• Specialist human review where required

The goal is to minimize financial loss while maintaining conversion quality, rather than relying only on conservative blocking rules.

dLocal provides:

• PCI DSS aligned guidance and requirements for merchants building full API integrations, including references to PCI DSS obligations and the need to meet the SAQ A level when using hosted fields and Smart Fields.

• 3D Secure capabilities, including full 3DS flows and a data-only mode that shares device and behavioral data with card networks to support issuer risk decisions.

• Automated KYC and AML controls in platform onboarding flows, including sanction screening and identity checks.

Merchants remain responsible for their own regulatory obligations, but the platform embeds key controls into the transaction flow.

Integration, Developer Experience And Tooling

The platform is built around a unified API surface exposed via developer documentation and reference guides. Integration options span:

• Direct API for payins, payouts and platform operations

• Hosted checkout and redirect models

• Smart Fields for embedding secure payment fields in web checkouts while keeping card data off the merchant’s servers

Developers can work with card payments, alternative payment methods and real-time payments using consistent API patterns across countries. Coverage references in the payins documentation list supported countries, payment types and specifics such as currencies and required fields.

dLocal also offers SDK options, including a Web Drop-In Android SDK that wraps Smart Fields for mobile apps. This SDK focuses on card tokenization and PCI scope reduction for merchants using mobile channels.

For ongoing operations, the documentation describes reporting and reconciliation features, including automated reports delivered by email or secure file transfer, and references to reconciliation support for cross-border and local-to-local flows in industry pages.

Industries And Typical Use Cases

dLocal targets a range of digital and platform centric verticals where local payment methods and cross-border flows are central to the business model. Its industry content specifically highlights:

• Digital and subscriptions, including streaming, SaaS, eLearning and gaming

• Travel, spanning online travel agencies, travel tech and aggregators

• Marketplaces and platforms that connect buyers and sellers across borders

• Retail and ecommerce with a focus on installments, tokenized payments and mobile first experiences

• Payroll and HR for cross-border salary and contractor payouts

Across these segments, the common theme is the need to localize payments for end users while maintaining unified control over settlement, reporting and compliance. dLocal’s combination of local rails, multi-currency handling, fraud management and KYC tooling is structured to address this requirement within a single platform and API.

Conclusion

dLocal is a specialized payment service provider focusing on emerging markets, built around a unified API that supports local payment acceptance and cross-border payouts in more than 40 markets and with over 900 local and alternative payment methods. Its product stack covers payins, payouts, platform capabilities for marketplaces and platforms, and a dedicated fraud management suite.

For merchants, especially larger digital businesses and platforms expanding into high-growth regions, dLocal’s proposition lies in consolidating many local acquirers, schemes and payment types behind one integration while embedding fraud controls, KYC and PCI aligned patterns into the payment flow. This reduces the need to build separate connections country by country and provides a consistent way to manage payments across diverse regulatory and consumer landscapes.