Latin America · GDP rank #23
Argentina
AR · ARS @ 0.0007140/USD
Two years into Milei-era reform, inflation has fallen from 211% (Dec 2023) to roughly 32% YoY (Apr 2026), the parallel-FX premium has collapsed, and the payments landscape is a three-way contest between Mercado Pago's incumbency, MODO's bank consortium, and a USD-stablecoin retail economy that has reached the second-largest per-capita base globally.
Tab 02
Consumer payments
How consumers actually pay: the share of cash, the stock and flow of cards, the scheme split at checkout, which mobile wallets matter, and how broadly POS acceptance reaches.
Every figure is authored against a named publisher — click the ⓘ anywhere to open the source panel with the underlying URL and access date.
Cash share of POS volume
% · 2025
Debit card share
% · 2025
Credit card share
% · 2025
Mobile wallet share
% · 2025
Apple Pay and Google Pay penetration is modest relative to direct QR-based wallet usage via MP/MODO.
Payment mix
At the point of sale
The shares below are POS volume (count of transactions), which reads differently from POS value. For the value-share read, see the card-economy grid underneath.
Share of POS
- Cash31%
- Credit card18%
- Debit card24%
- Instant / A2A22%
- Mobile wallet3%
- BNPL12%
- Other2%
Cash behaviour
- ATM network
- 29,000
- Avg. ATM withdrawal
- ARS 110,000
- Cash share · value
- 16%
- Cash share · volume
- 31%
Source · Red Link / Banelco
Scheme share
Which networks clear the card volume
Scheme share is the split of general-purpose card purchase volume — not issuance, not count of cards. A high domestic share (e.g. UnionPay, RuPay, ELO) means a large share of card flow never touches a global scheme.
Cooperative-bank-owned domestic scheme; retains share in agricultural and SME sectors.
Share of card volume
- Visa48%
- Mastercard41%
- Amex3%
- Other1%
- Domestic Scheme7%
Debit card transactions
transactions/year · 2025
Debit card spend
ARS · 2025
Credit card transactions
transactions/year · 2025
Credit card spend
ARS · 2025
Average debit ticket
ARS · 2025
Average credit ticket
ARS · 2025
Mobile wallets
Where wallets actually land
User counts are the best single scalar for wallet reach, but they understate usage intensity in markets where one super-app carries multi-digit trillions of renminbi or rupees. For flow, see the rails tab.
Active users
- Mercado Pago30M
Q4 2025
- MODO8.5M
2025
- Ualá7.0M
2025
- Naranja X5.2M
2025
Notable wallets
Mercado Pago
Anchors roughly 60% of T3.0 volume via CVU; super-app integrates QR, P2P, lending, investments.
Mercado Libre
MODO
Bank-consortium response to MP; interoperable with T3.0; 35-bank ownership including Santander, BBVA, Galicia.
MODO
Ualá
Ualá
Naranja X
Grupo Financiero Galicia
Full reference