Crypto is growing in popularity despite headwinds as 75% of merchants plan to accept crypto payments
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Expect to see many more merchants offering a “pay with crypto” option soon.
Important points
- Most retailers report moderate to high customer interest in crypto payments.
- More than 85% of merchants rate enabling crypto payments as a high or very high priority.
- Almost three-quarters aim to accept crypto within two years.
Although the market is down this year, cryptocurrency is becoming more popular and more widely accepted as a payment method. According to a recent survey by Deloitte, nearly three-quarters of retailers plan to accept crypto payments in the next 24 months.
Deloitte surveyed 2,000 senior executives at retail organizations across the United States to learn about their investments in digital currency payments. The results show that merchants are prioritizing and investing in crypto payment options.
Merchants and customers are interested in crypto payments
Cryptocurrency has a long way to go before it reaches widespread acceptance, but interest in digital currency payments is high. In Deloitte’s research, 96% of merchants said their customers had either moderate or high interest in paying with crypto. Interest is particularly high among younger consumers.
With that level of interest, sellers who don’t enable cryptocurrency payments could be missing out on potential customers. There was consensus among the retailers served by Deloitte, with 87% believing organizations that accept crypto have a competitive advantage.
Then it makes sense that a large part of the retailers are working hard to activate cryptocurrency. More than 85% consider it a high or very high priority, and companies of all sizes are putting a significant amount of money into it. Among large retailers with $500 million or more in annual revenue, 54% are investing over $1 million to accept crypto payments.
Smaller organizations don’t spend as much, but the majority invest at least $100,000. That includes organizations with less than $10 million in annual revenue, with 58% spending $100,000 to $1 million.
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How sellers reduce risk
Volatility is the biggest risk with cryptocurrency and an important consideration for sellers. If a company has accepted payments in Bitcoin (BTC) and its value plummets, it can put it in a precarious financial position. And when crypto crashes, it tends to crash hard. This year there has been 2 trillion dollars in crypto wiped out.
To avoid this situation, 52% of respondents plan to let third-party payment processors convert crypto payments into fiat money instantly. For example, a US merchant may accept Bitcoin payments but have that Bitcoin converted to US dollars right away. This means that the seller never actually has cryptocurrency funds or risks a price drop.
There is also some interest among merchants to accept stablecoin payments. In fact, 83% specifically give stablecoin payments a high or very high priority.
Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to track the value of another asset. Most of the major stablecoins are pegged to the US dollar, so they are supposed to maintain a value of $1. That makes them a safer option for storing funds, at least when they work as intended. However, there have been several stablecoins that have failed, with TerraUSD being a recent example.
Positive news for traders and crypto investors
Enabling cryptocurrency payments presents challenges for merchants. Of those surveyed, 45% said integrating digital currencies into their existing financial infrastructure was their biggest challenge. Another 44% went with integrating different digital currencies.
However, early returns are promising. Among retailers that already accept crypto payments, 93% have seen a positive impact on their company’s customer metrics, and they expect that to continue next year.
The fact that so many merchants are setting up digital currency payment is also good news for anyone investing in cryptocurrency. As crypto becomes accepted in more places, it may lead to more people being interested in buying it. It is also a sign of cryptocurrency’s long-term potential as a payment method.
It is worth pointing out that cryptocurrency is still very volatile and risky. These are important considerations if you plan to buy crypto. But the consensus among merchants is that cryptocurrency will become much more widespread, which is exciting for enthusiasts and investors.
