Toast Payment Volume Up 22% in August

Toast payment volume rose 22% year-over-year, reaching $60.7 billion in the June quarter as the point-of-sale technology provider added about 22,000 new locations. The company reported $290 million in revenue and $154 million in net income, a 93% increase from the previous year.

Partnerships and New Features

BHW Hotels, the parent company for WorldHotels, Best Western, and SureStay Hotels, announced that it will use Toast as its point-of-sale system for properties across the United States and Canada. Nuvei Corp. also announced a new partnership, embedding its payment acceptance service into BlackLine’s finance services platform to help users manage invoices and reconciliation.

Varo Bank N.A. launched a fee-free cash deposit service powered by Green Dot Corp. technology. This allows Varo customers to deposit cash at more than 2,000 Kroger grocery store locations.

Transaction Growth and Financials

Card-issuing platform Marqeta Inc. reported second-quarter processing volume of $91 billion, a 32% increase from the prior year. Net revenue climbed 17% to $176 million, and the company turned a profit of $8 million, swinging from a $1 million loss a year ago. Circle Internet Group Inc. reported June-quarter revenue of $701 million, up 7% year-over-year, while its stablecoin, USDC, grew 19% to a total of $73.3 billion in circulation.

ATM maker NCR Atleos Corp. reported $1.1 billion in second-quarter revenue, flat from the year-ago period, but saw net income increase to $65 million from $39 million. Meanwhile, NCR Voyix Corp. reported a 20.8% drop in second-quarter revenue to $523 million, moving from $660 million in the same quarter last year. The company reported $2 million in net income, up from a prior period with no net income or loss.

It is uncommon to see such a stark contrast in quarterly performance across the payment sector. While Marqeta and Toast show strong growth fueled by increased transaction volume and new partnerships, NCR Voyix is experiencing a revenue decline despite a bottom-line improvement. This divergence suggests that while the broader digital payments market is expanding through new technologies and embedded services, legacy hardware providers are facing headwinds from a changing economic setting.

Market Trends and Regulation

The current legislative setting continues to influence payment sector strategies, with Senator Dick Durbin highlighting the Credit Card Competition Act during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The Democrat from Illinois argued that interchange rates should be disclosed to consumers and asserted that merchants have no choice but to accept the rates. This push for transparency comes as the Merchant Payments Coalition, representing merchants, advocates for lower card processing fees and increased competition within the payments market.