As the fifth Unchain Festival opens in\u00a0Oradea, Romania,\u00a0on\u00a0June 17\u201318, one question hangs over Central and Eastern Europe\u2019s banking leaders: can the region build payment rails that don\u2019t run through American companies? And so far, Poland\u2019s BLIK has become the clearest answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Visa and Mastercard\u00a0accounted<\/a>\u00a0for 47% of the eurozone\u2019s card payment volume in 2025, with 13 of 19 countries relying on the two providers for at least 96% of their card transactions. The duopoly\u2019s combined eurozone share has doubled since 2010. The fear driving European officials is that Washington could one day restrict access, as sanctions cut off Russia after 2022. Whether that threat is realistic or not, the dependency is real, and policymakers are treating it as critical infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n How Did BLIK Reach 20.7 Million Users?<\/p>\n BLIK is the homegrown system proving that an alternative can work at scale. In 2025, BLIK users completed\u00a02.9 billion\u00a0transactions worth\u00a0PLN 441.5 billion\u00a0(EUR 104.9 billion). The system has\u00a0processed<\/a>\u00a0a cumulative 10 billion transactions since its 2015 launch and over the past 12 months, more than 2 million new users joined the system, bringing the number of active accounts to 20.7 million at the end of December. On peak days the system has handled nearly 13 million transactions, with quarterly averages reaching nearly 100 transactions per second.<\/p>\n Built by six Polish banks, BLIK uses a six-digit code linked to a banking app, with no card required. E-commerce remains its engine, accounting for nearly half of all transactions. That track record is why Coinbase integrated BLIK in December, allowing Polish users to buy crypto directly in z\u0142oty.\u00a0<\/p>\n Od tradycji po Wied\u017amina, od bezpiecznych miast po cyfrowy kosmos! Polska zachwyca dzi\u015b \u015bwiat nie tylko kultur\u0105, ale i technologi\u0105. P\u0142acenie BLIK-iem czy e-recepty w telefonie to dow\u00f3d, \u017ce jeste\u015bmy w unijnej awangardzie nowoczesno\u015bci. Ro\u015bniemy w si\u0142\u0119 bez kompleks\u00f3w! pic.twitter.com\/76cdalqeKg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Marcin Freedom (@m_liberted) June 14, 2026<\/a> EuroPA: Scaling to 100 Million Europeans?<\/p>\n BLIK\u2019s bigger move is going cross-border. It has\u00a0joined<\/a>\u00a0the EuroPA alliance alongside\u00a0Bancomat, Bizum, MB Way, Vipps MobilePay, and the European Payments Initiative\u2019s\u00a0Wero wallet. The alliance aims to reach over 100 million users across 10 European countries by linking trusted national brands. P2P transfers between platforms are expected later in 2026, with in-store payments following in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n The progress is genuine but early. In its first operational year, EuroPA\u00a0processed\u00a0roughly\u00a0EUR 6 million\u00a0in cross-border transfers without any marketing push, though small, it is a clear signal of demand. Wero, by contrast, has scaled faster,\u00a0reaching<\/a>\u00a0around\u00a048.5 million\u00a0users in France, Germany, and Belgium by early 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why Unchain 2026 Is Perfect Timing for BLIK<\/p>\n The festival\u2019s agenda reads like BLIK\u2019s playbook: instant payments, the digital euro, and monetary sovereignty. The ECB\u2019s own work on a digital euro, which Disruption Banking has\u00a0tracked<\/a>\u00a0through its innovation platform, points to a layered future in which Wero handles domestic and European payments, cards handle international payments, and a digital euro serves as a public backstop.\u00a0<\/p>\n BLIK has shown the model works in one country. The harder test is whether it works across the continent before the window closes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Author:\u00a0Ayanfe Fakunle<\/a><\/p>\n The editorial team at #DisruptionBanking has taken all precautions to ensure that no persons or organisations have been adversely affected or offered any sort of financial advice in this article. This article is most definitely not financial advice.<\/p>\n See Also:<\/p>\n UNCHAIN 2025: Igniting Finance, Innovation, and Collaboration in CEE | Disruption Banking<\/a><\/p>\n Central Eastern European Fintech Associations gather at Unchain Festival | Disruption Banking<\/a><\/p>\n Is Poland\u2019s Regulatory Environment Limiting Its Crypto Market? | Disruption Banking<\/a><\/p>\n