According to the latest figures from trade association U.K. Finance, now over half of the debit card payments in the U.K. are contactless. 

A contactless card has a built-in radio-frequency module. As a result, the user does not have to swipe the card, but simply holds it up close to an RFID reader.

In July 2019, U.K. users made 1.6 billion debit and credit card payments in the country, 5.7% more than a year ago, according to the data. Thirty five percent of credit card transactions in the U.K. were also made with contactless cards. 

The report shows 766 million contactless transactions in July, an 18% increase from the year-ago period of 650 million. 

Payments via contactless cards, or similar "tap and go" transactions through digital wallets like Apple Pay, are faster, because they typically don't require a pin or signature. 

Further, in contrast to chip-and-pin payments, after the user taps the card, he or she can put the card back in their wallet while the transaction goes through. There is no waiting.  

Contactless payments got their start the 1990s. Only a handful of merchants and retailers adopted the technology in those early years. Since then, its use has slowly spread to banks, credit card companies, merchants and retailers around the world.

While contactless payments are hugely popular in the U.K., the technology has been slow to catch on in the U.S. However, that is starting to change.

A massive data breach in 2013 at Target proved to be a tipping point for the move away from the outdated, more vulnerable magnetic stripes. 

And as of 2015, a change in the law — merchants became liable if fraud occurred and they had not enabled chip technology at their terminals — has given merchants an incentive to switch to the more secure EMV chip technology.  

The move to EMV chips has paved the way in the U.S. for contactless cards. Now more banks are issuing contactless cards. 

Meanwhile, back in the U.K., the move to contactless payments has some concerned that it will cause more ATMs to close, creating a cash crisis for those who depend on cash the most.