Electronic and cashless transactions up 17% at Rock in Rio 2026

If payment patterns at last month’s Rock in Rio music festival are anything to go by, then Portugal is increasingly shifting towards becoming a cashless society.

That’s according to SIBS Analytics which recorded a 17% increase in the number of transactions made during Rock in Rio (RiR) Lisbon 2026 compared to the event’s previous edition in 2024.

The data reflects festival-goers’ continued adoption of cashless solutions, with the average transaction value settling at €12 and the average total spend per card at €33.

Approximately 27% of transactions within the venue were made using MB WAY, cementing the mobile phone as the premier digital wallet for fast, secure transactions in large-scale event settings.

The vast majority of cards used during the festival were domestic (91%), with an average spend of €32 per Portuguese card.

Nationwide analysis reveals that the majority of attendees making purchases at the event were from the Lisbon and Tagus Valley districts (67%), followed by the North region—specifically Porto, Braga, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, and Bragança (14%)—and the Central region, comprising Aveiro, Coimbra, and Viseu (11%). Data from the southernmost districts (Faro, Beja, and Évora) accounted for 5%.

The average spend per foreign card was higher, at €41 (€9 more than Portuguese cards). Spain (28%) topped the list of nationalities for electronic payments, followed by Brazil (13%), the United Kingdom (9%), France (8%), and Germany (6%).

With a history spanning over four decades, SIBS provides modern, reliable, and secure technological and digital services—particularly in the payments sector—to more than 220 million users, over 90 financial institutions, and thousands of companies across various regions on four continents, handling the global processing of over 17 billion transactions annually.

SIBS manages the MULTIBANCO networks—across multiple channels ranging from ATMs and payment terminals to online and mobile platforms—as well as ATM Express. Additionally, SIBS is a national benchmark in Business Process Outsourcing and a leader in the Iberian Peninsula in card production and personalisation.

Source: SIBS