The European Central Bank's 2026 Study on the Use of Cash by Companies in the Euro Area examines how businesses across the euro area accept and use cash, how they weigh it against digital payment methods, and how cash infrastructure is evolving. The research covers companies in retail, restaurants and cafes, hotels, and arts, entertainment and recreation across all 21 euro area countries, a figure that reflects Bulgaria's adoption of the euro on 1 January 2026.

Despite the continued growth of digital payments, the report finds that cash remains a widely accepted payment method. In 2026, 92% of companies selling goods or services at physical locations said they accept cash, up from 90% in 2024. Physical cards were accepted by 88% of companies, while mobile payment acceptance rose sharply from 36% in 2024 to 68% in 2026. The persistence of cash acceptance is consistent with its status as the sole legal tender of the currency union, a status the ECB has urged EU lawmakers to safeguard with clearer pan-European rules.

Acceptance rates vary significantly across countries and sectors. Greece and Italy recorded the highest cash acceptance rates among euro area SMEs at 99%, while Belgium and Cyprus had the lowest, at 81% and 76% respectively. Retailers, restaurants and hotels posted an overall cash acceptance rate of 93%, compared with 84% for arts, entertainment and recreation businesses.

Among companies selling goods online in 2026, 82% accept payment cards and 74% accept credit transfers. Only a very small share of companies — 0.2% — accept crypto-assets, a result that comes even as the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) has been fully applicable across the bloc since the end of 2024, establishing a harmonised rulebook for crypto-asset services and stablecoins.

The ECB also found that cash is likely to remain part of the payment mix. Of the companies that currently accept cash, 92% said they plan to continue accepting it over the next five years. Firms that reject cash most commonly cited low customer demand and the inconvenience or difficulty of depositing and withdrawing cash as their reasons. The business-side picture mirrors consumer behaviour: the ECB's separate SPACE survey found that cash was still the most frequently used payment method at euro area points of sale in 2024, accounting for just over half of such transactions by number.

Business preferences over payment methods are mixed. One-third of companies have no preference for how customers pay at physical locations, while 24% prefer debit cards, 21% prefer cash and 14% prefer credit cards. Companies generally rated cash more favourably than digital payments for privacy and reliability, as well as for overall costs, transaction speed, ease of handling and security.

The study also highlights the continued modernization of cash infrastructure. Around 13% of companies have introduced self-checkout terminals, and more than half of those businesses operate at least some self-checkouts that accept cash. Meanwhile, 38% have introduced cash registers at the point of payment and 37% have smart safes. Bank counters remain the most common method for both withdrawing and depositing cash.

Overall, the ECB study suggests that the shift toward digital payments has not eliminated the role of cash for businesses. Instead, cash and digital payment methods are increasingly operating alongside each other, with businesses balancing customer preferences, cost, security, reliability and operational convenience when deciding which payment methods to accept. That hybrid landscape is the backdrop for two developments relevant to how future editions of the study will track the payment mix: the ECB's ongoing preparation of a digital euro, a retail central bank digital currency the institution says would complement rather than replace cash, and continuing debate among EU institutions over rules to safeguard the right to pay in cash.

Source: European Central Bank, "Use of cash by companies in the euro area in 2026." Read the full ECB report.

Related: REALITY CHECK | Why Cash Still Dominates Many African Economies