Are We Moving Toward a Card Free World? 

Contactless payment methods (touch-to-pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.) were introduced in 2004 and have been on the rise since. 

More and More Retailers are Accepting Contactless

There has been a consistent increase in the number of retailers that are now accepting contactless payments. Does this mean we will experience a decline in card payments?

• In 2021, we have seen an increase of over 60% in the number of retailers accepting contactless payments. This brings the total up to 67% compared to the 40% in 2019.
• A study made by Fit Small Business, showed that 56% of all retailers have accepted some sort of phone-based payment in 2021.

Consumer Use Continues to Grow

36% of the US population used some form of mobile device-based payment system in 2021. As the cost of smartphones continues to decrease (at the low end) and as the tender is accepted more widely as noted above adoption should continue to rise

Peer-to-peer payment platforms are growing at an accelerated pace:

The amount of money moving through Venmo, the leading peer-to-peer payment platform, has been growing exponentially (almost $60 billion in Q2 of 2021, roughly a 57% growth annually).

Are we moving towards a card-free world? Only time will tell, but I see the marginalization of credit cards in the next ten years. Not credit card accounts, but the physical card, as they will be replaced by smartphones or wearable technology. By the way, I think we will see the same for many of the cards people carry such as drivers license and insurance cards as well. I wouldn’t want to be a wallet manufacturer in 2032!

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