When was the last time you carried coins in your pocket? To the disgrace of the street performers installed at traffic lights, fewer and fewer people are using cash. According to the latest Global Payments Report, prepared by the U.S. payment processing company Worldpay, cash accounted for only 16% of point-of-sale transactions in 2023 and its use will continue to decline: it will stand at 11% by 2027 according to the report's projections. What are the payment methods that dominate - and will dominate - the market? We can see it in this chart:

Source: Global Payment Report 2024

In e-commerce, meanwhile, digital wallets already account for 50% of transactions and will grow to 61% by 2027, while the use of credit cards will fall from 22% to 15% in the same period, and debit cards from 12% to 8%.

This boom in digital wallets, however, does not directly threaten credit and debit cards, as it might seem. What is observed is a displacement, in which instead of using plastic, cards become the majority means of financing digital wallets.