A new report by Aite Group predicts that, as EMV becomes the standard, NFC will rise up as the next evolution in global payments.

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The report, "EMV and NFC: U.S. Merchant Implementation Status, 2016," seeks to quantify merchant implementation of EMV after the U.S. liability shift and — since EMV-capable POS terminals are nearly always NFC-capable, as well — the likely move to contactless payments/

In a news release, Aite noted the challenges EMV adoption has posed for the nation and went on to say: 

... even 12 months prior to the October 2015 liability shift, many merchants had still not heard of EMV. The adoption of EMV has since accelerated, and the outlook appears to be anecdotally encouraging. But quantitative data is needed to fully understand the dynamics of the shift not only for EMV but also for NFC, the enabler for mobile wallet usage at the point of sale."

The report analyzes EMV implementation by business size and category, and explores merchant capability and interest in mobile wallet acceptance, the release said.