Bulgarians welcomed the first 48 hours of the country's membership in the Eurozone with high activity in card payments and ATM operations. In the period of January 1-2, 2026, a total of over 933,000 POS terminal and ATM (cash machine) transactions were carried out through the national card and payment infrastructure, with a total value of nearly 42 million euros, announced "Borica" AD - the technology company providing the national payment infrastructure.
Cashless payments dominate in number (over 86 percent), and ATM operations (withdrawals and deposits) dominate in value (over 52 percent).
In the first 48 hours, the system processed over 804,000 POS transactions worth over 20 million euros, with an average amount of nearly 25 euros per payment. ATM withdrawals were over 125,000 transactions worth over 18 million euros, with an average amount of 144 euros per withdrawal. ATM deposits were nearly 3,500 transactions worth nearly 3.8 million euros, with an average amount of nearly 1,100 euros per deposit.
The intensity for the period was nearly 19,446 transactions per hour (about 324 operations per minute), or 5.4 operations per second, i.e., over five card operations were performed every second.
The data from the first 48 hours send a clear signal that cashless payment is already a basic expectation, not an "extra", note "Borica" and point out that with over 86 percent share of the number of payments through POS, merchants without the possibility of cashless payment are actually excluding themselves from the most active flow of customers and purchases in the new currency environment.
Thanks to the coordinated work of the "Borica" team, banks and participants in the financial sector, Bulgaria entered the Eurozone with a working, intensively used and technologically modern card and payment infrastructure, which successfully coped with the first real stress test of operations in euros in the first 48 hours, the company points out in its press release.
At 00:00:20 hours, the first successful withdrawal in euros was recorded, "Borica" AD announced on January 1. It was from an ATM in Sunny Beach. At 00:03:00 hours, the first successful transaction in euros through the "Borica" infrastructure was made via SoftPOS in Sofia. At 00:04:55, a successful donation in euros was made to a virtual POS terminal, the company also pointed out. On January 1, 2026, Bulgaria officially switched to its new national currency - the euro.