Block processed gross payment volume of $74,734 million in the three months ended June 30, 2026, according to the Block Q2 2026 shareholder letter. In the same quarter, Toast’s GPV increased 22% year over year to $60.7 billion. Shift4’s shareholder letter shows a volume of $61 billion during Q2 2026, up 22%. These point-of-sale statistics come from company filings rather than modelled market-size estimates.
The payment mix at the counter is shifting unevenly. According to Visa’s annual report, Tap to Pay accounted for 79% and 66% of Visa face-to-face transactions, globally and in the United States, in fiscal 2025. According to the European Central Bank, cash was used in 52% of euro area POS transactions in 2024. The Federal Reserve puts cash at around 20% of US in-person transactions in 2025.
Key Takeaways
- Square GPV grew 13% year over year in the second quarter, with U.S. GPV growth accelerating to 10% and International GPV growing 28%.
- Toast added approximately 9,500 net new Locations in the second quarter, and Total Locations rose 22% to approximately 180,000.
- Shift4’s Q2 2026 payment volumes were ~3.6x Q2 2022 levels.
- Cash accounted for 14% of total US consumer payments in 2025, and 90% of consumers plan to continue using cash.
- Card payments accounted for 57% of the total number of euro area non-cash transactions in the second half of 2025.
- Cards’ share of US noncash payments reached 79% in 2024, up from 71% in 2015.
Editor’s Choice
- Block GPV, second quarter of 2026: $74,734 million.
- Toast annualized recurring run-rate: $2.4 billion.
- Shift4 full-year 2026 volume outlook: $240 billion to $260 billion.
- Visa Tap to Phone transacting devices: More than 20 million.
- Euro area contactless card payments, second half of 2025: 32.9 billion.
- US debit card payments, 2024: 120.6 billion.
Point of Sale Statistics by Provider Volume
- Block’s GPV reached $137,843 million in the six months ended June 30, 2026, against $123,412 million a year earlier.
- Toast’s subscription services and financial technology solutions gross profit grew 31% year over year to $585 million.
- Lightspeed’s GPV as a percentage of GTV was 44% in the quarter, up from 41% a year ago as reported.
- Shift4’s gross revenue was $1,295 million, up 34%, and gross profit was $420 million, up 53%.
- Lightspeed serves retail, golf, and hospitality businesses in over 100 countries.
| Provider | Volume metric | Latest quarter | Value | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block | Gross payment volume (all of Block) | Q2 2026 | $74,734 million | +12.2% |
| Shift4 | Payment volume | Q2 2026 | $61 billion | +22% |
| Toast | Gross payment volume | Q2 2026 | $60.7 billion | +22% |
| Lightspeed | Gross transaction volume | Q1 FY2027 | $25.7 billion | +5% reported |
| Lightspeed | Gross payment volume | Q1 FY2027 | $11.3 billion | +11% reported |
Source: Block, Shift4, Toast and Lightspeed quarterly results, 2026
About This Data
Figures come from 11 sources: Six company filings and annual reports (Block, Toast, Shift4, Lightspeed and Visa), four central bank publications (European Central Bank and Federal Reserve) and one standards body (PCI Security Standards Council). Only primary disclosures qualified, and no market-research estimates are used. Publications run from 2024 to August 2026. The data is reviewed on a rolling basis and updated when sources publish new editions.
What is POS data?
POS data is the record of what a merchant’s point-of-sale system processes: each sale, its value, how it was paid, and where it happened. Providers roll it up into volume metrics. Lightspeed defines Gross Transaction Volume as the total dollar value of transactions processed through its cloud-based software-as-a-service platform, net of refunds.
Can you give me an example of POS data?
A provider’s quarterly payment volume is a commonly reported example. Lightspeed’s GPV increased to $11.3 billion from $10.2 billion in the same quarter last year. The merchant services industry data tracks the same kind of figure across acquirers.
Block and Square Gross Payment Volume by Quarter
- Block’s GPV reached $74,734 million in the second quarter of 2026, up from $66,615 million a year earlier.
- Square’s U.S. GPV growth accelerated to 10% year over year, the strongest U.S. growth rate since Q2 2023.
- International GPV grew 28% year over year, or 25% in constant currency, in the second quarter.
- In the first quarter, Square GPV grew 13% reported and 11.5% in constant currency, with U.S. GPV growing 8.2% and International GPV growing 35%.
- Block reported first-quarter GPV of $63,109 million, against $56,797 million a year earlier.
View the data
| Quarter | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 56,797 | 63,109 |
| Q2 | 66,615 | 74,734 |
Recent Developments
- August 6, 2026: Shift4 reported Q2 2026 volume of $61 billion and set a full-year volume range of $240 billion to $260 billion.
- August 5, 2026: Block released second-quarter results showing Square GPV up 13% and International GPV up 28%.
- August 4, 2026: Toast reported net income of $154 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $221 million for the second quarter.
- July 30, 2026: Lightspeed reported GTV growth of 14% across retail in North America and hospitality in Europe, with about 1,300 net Customer Locations added.
- July 22, 2026: The European Central Bank published second-half 2025 payments statistics showing 32.9 billion contactless card payments, 11.9% higher than a year earlier.
Toast Restaurant POS Statistics
- ARR increased 25% year over year to $2.4 billion as of June 30, 2026.
- Total Locations increased 22% year over year to approximately 180,000.
- Operating income was $152 million in Q2 2026, compared to $80 million in Q2 2025.
- Toast repurchased 19 million shares for $486 million year-to-date through June 30, 2026.
- Subscription services and financial technology solutions gross profit grew 31%, the fastest of the four growth rates in the chart.
View the data
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Subscription and fintech gross profit | 31% |
| Annualized recurring run-rate | 25% |
| Total locations | 22% |
| Gross payment volume | 22% |
Key finding: Toast’s ARR grew 25% to $2.4 billion, while Gross Payment Volume increased 22% to $60.7 billion. Annualized recurring run-rate grew 25%, faster than GPV and locations (both 22%).
Our Toast revenue and take-rate data follow the longer quarterly series.
Shift4 Payment Volume Growth
- Shift4 reported a volume of $61 billion during Q2 2026, up 22% year over year.
- Second-quarter volume rose by $44 billion between Q2 2022 and Q2 2026.
- Shift4’s full-year 2026 volume range of $240 billion to $260 billion carries growth of 15% to 24%.
- Gross revenue reached $1,295 million in Q2 2026, up 34%.
View the data
| Quarter | Value |
|---|---|
| Q2 2022 | 17 |
| Q2 2023 | 27 |
| Q2 2024 | 40 |
| Q2 2025 | 50 |
| Q2 2026 | 61 |
Lightspeed Retail and Hospitality POS Volume
- Lightspeed’s total GTV was $25.7 billion, up from $24.6 billion in the same quarter last year.
- GTV growth was 9% organic and 5% as reported.
- GPV grew 20% organic and 11% as reported.
- Across retail in North America and hospitality in Europe, revenue grew 20%, and GTV grew 14%.
| Metric | Q1 FY2026 | Q1 FY2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Gross transaction volume | $24.6 billion | $25.7 billion |
| Gross payment volume | $10.2 billion | $11.3 billion |
| GPV as a share of GTV (reported) | 41% | 44% |
Source: Lightspeed First Quarter 2027 Financial Results, quarter reported July 30, 2026
GTV vs GPV: Lightspeed counts GTV as transactions processed through its platform, net of refunds, with a growing portion processed through the Company’s payments solutions. GPV is the slice that runs through its own payments product, so the ratio between the two measures payments penetration.
Tap to Pay Share of Visa Face-to-Face Transactions
- Tap to Pay made up 79% of all Visa face-to-face transactions globally in fiscal 2025, the headline figure in the table below.
- The United States share was 66% in fiscal 2025.
- The US tap share trailed the global share by 13 percentage points.
| Visa contactless metric | Fiscal 2025 |
|---|---|
| Tap to Pay share of face-to-face transactions, global | 79% |
| Tap to Pay share of face-to-face transactions, US | 66% |
| Contactless transactions on global transit systems | More than 2.4 billion |
| Contactless public transport projects activated (total to date, per fiscal 2025 10-K) | More than 1,000 |
Source: Visa Annual Report on Form 10-K, fiscal 2025
The contactless payment statistics break the same shift down by country.
Mobile Wallets and SoftPOS at the Point of Sale
- During fiscal 2025, Visa passed 20 million Tap to Phone transacting devices.
- Tap to Phone enables any mobile device with near field communication capability to be converted to a payment acceptance terminal.
- The card share of those small payments increased from 15% to 21%.
| Mobile acceptance and usage metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Visa Tap to Phone transacting devices, fiscal 2025 | More than 20 million |
| Mobile device share of euro area payments of €5 or less, 2024 | 6% |
| Card share of euro area payments of €5 or less, 2024 | 21% |
| Mobile device share of euro area POS payments, all value ranges | Between 5% and 7% |
Source: Visa Annual Report on Form 10-K, fiscal 2025; ECB SPACE, 2024
Worth noting: Overall, the share of POS payments with a mobile device was stable, between 5% and 7%, across all value ranges in the euro area. Phone acceptance is spreading on the merchant side through software terminals, but euro area shoppers still pay mostly with a card or cash at the counter.
The NFC payment data covers the consumer side of the same technology.
Euro Area Card and Contactless Payment Statistics
- The European Central Bank put the total number of non-cash payments in the euro area in the second half of 2025 at 83.5 billion, 6.9% higher than a year earlier.
- Contactless card payments in the second half of 2025 totaled 32.9 billion, with a total value of €0.9 trillion, 12.8% higher than in the second half of 2024.
- Contactless card payments equaled about 39.4% of all euro area non-cash payments in the half-year.
- Card payments accounted for 57% of the total number of transactions, ahead of credit transfers at 21%, the largest bar in the chart.
View the data
| Payment instrument | Value |
|---|---|
| Card payments | 57% |
| Credit transfers | 21% |
| Direct debits | 14% |
| E-money payments | 6% |
| Cheques, remittances and other | 1% |
The digital payments statistics track the same instruments worldwide.
Cash vs Card at the Euro Area Point of Sale
- Cash was used in 52% of POS transactions in the euro area, down from 59% in the previous survey.
- In terms of value, cards had a share of 45% and cash a share of 39%.
- In 2024, 75% of day-to-day payments were made at the POS, down from 80%, while 21% were made online, up from 17%.
- In 2024, 55% of euro area consumers preferred cards and other cashless payments when paying in a shop, while 22% preferred cash.
View the data
| Metric | Previous survey (%) | 2024 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| POS share of day-to-day payments | 80% | 75% |
| Cash share of POS transactions | 59% | 52% |
| Card share of payment value | 46% | 45% |
| Cash share of payment value | 42% | 39% |
Why it matters: Cash was the most frequently used payment method at the POS in the euro area and was used in 52% of transactions, while US cash payments made up around 20% of in-person transactions in 2025. The two surveys measure differently, but the gap shapes how much cash handling merchants on each side of the Atlantic still budget for.
US Point of Sale Payment Mix
- US consumers made an average of 47 payments per month in 2025, similar to 2024 levels.
- They averaged 30 payments in person (63%) and 17 remotely (37%), as shown in the chart below.
- Cash accounted for an average of six payments per month and remained the third most-used payment instrument.
- Cash was the third most-preferred payment instrument at 16%, behind debit and credit cards.
- Four out of five consumers used cash in the last 30 days.
View the data
| Payment location | Value |
|---|---|
| In person | 63% |
| Remote | 37% |
The total number of monthly card payments remained consistent with 2024 levels: debit cards increased by one payment and credit cards declined by one payment.
Cash Use at the US Point of Sale by Age
- Consumers age 55 and older made, on average, 10 cash payments per month in 2025, accounting for 19% of their total payments.
- Consumers younger than 25 averaged only two cash payments per month, 6% of their total.
- Those aged 25 to 54 made an average of five cash payments per month, 10% of their total.
- Consumers 55 and older used cash for about 3.2 times the share of payments of consumers under 25.
View the data
| Age group | Value |
|---|---|
| Younger than 25 | 6% |
| 25 to 54 | 10% |
| 55 and older | 19% |
US Card Payment Volume Statistics
- The Federal Reserve Payments Study found the total number of noncash payments rose to 236.6 billion in 2024, an increase of 31.9 billion from 2021, driven primarily by card payments.
- Debit card payments reached 120.6 billion in 2024, up 13.8 billion from 2021.
- Credit card payments increased to 67.1 billion in 2024, up 16.2 billion from 2021.
- Debit cards accounted for 64% of all card payments in 2024 by number, down from 68% in 2021.
- Cards’ share of noncash payments reached 79% in 2024, up from 77% in 2021, the latest bar in the chart.
View the data
| Study year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 71% |
| 2021 | 77% |
| 2024 | 79% |
The debit card usage data follows the debit side in more detail.
PCI DSS v4.0 Requirements for POS Merchants
- PCI DSS v4.0 marks the first major update to the Standard in over a decade and is now fully in effect.
- Of the 64 new requirements, 51 are future-dated and effective as of 31 March 2025.
- The remaining 13 new requirements were not future-dated.
- PCI DSS v4.0.1 was released as a limited revision in June 2024 with minor updates.
| PCI DSS v4.0 item | Detail |
|---|---|
| New requirements added | 64 |
| Future-dated requirements | 51 |
| Future-dated requirements effective | March 31, 2025 |
| Limited revision v4.0.1 released | June 2024 |
Source: PCI Security Standards Council, 2026
Compliance risk: Of the 64 new PCI DSS v4.0 requirements, 51 became effective as of 31 March 2025. A POS environment built for the older standard is now assessed against controls already in force.
The credit card fraud statistics show the losses these controls target.
Conclusion
Block’s GPV of $74,734 million for the latest quarter and a Tap to Pay share of 79% of Visa’s face-to-face transactions describe a point of sale market that is large, card-led by value and increasingly contactless. Cash still holds a bigger place at the counter than the volume figures suggest, especially in the euro area and among older US shoppers.
Shift4 projects full-year volume of $240 billion to $260 billion. The next round of quarterly filings will show whether most provider payment volume is growing at double-digit rates while the cash share drifts lower.
