Three-quarters of US retailers plan to accept cryptocurrency or stablecoin payments in the next two yearsaccording to a new survey published by Deloitte.
It was also discovered that more than half of the large retailers with revenues greater than $500 million are currently spending $1 million or more building the infrastructure needed to make it a reality.
The information was revealed in Deloitte’s “Merchants Getting Ready For Crypto” report, published Wednesday in collaboration with PayPal.
A large majority, Some 85% of merchants surveyed said they anticipate cryptocurrency payments to be ubiquitous in their respective industries in five years.
The survey surveyed 2,000 top executives from United States retail organizations between December 3 and 16, 2021, when cryptocurrency prices were still on the rise, but the results have just been revealed. Executives were evenly distributed across the cosmetics, digital goods, electronics, fashion, food and beverage, home and garden, hospitality and leisure, personal and household goods, services, and transportation sectors.
Small and medium-sized businesses are also getting in on the action, as 73% of retailers with revenues between USD 10 and 100 million are investing between USD 100,000 and 1 million in the necessary infrastructure.
According to Deloitte, the spending will not stop there and is only expected to increase throughout 2022. More than 60% of retailers said they expect budgets of more than $500,000 to enable crypto payments in the next 12 months through December.
Consumers drive cryptocurrency payments
Consumer interest is driving merchant adoption as 64% of merchants say their customers have expressed significant interest in using crypto for payments. Approximately 83% of traders expect interest to increase or increase significantly in 2022.
Nearly half expect their adoption of crypto payments to improve the customer experience, about the same number believe it will increase their customer base, and 40% expect their brand to be perceived as “cutting edge.”
Retailers are bullish on digital currencies
Of the retailers that already accept cryptocurrencies, 93% have reported a positive impact on their customer metrics.
Barriers and challenges to adoption cited by merchants include payment system security (43%), regulatory changes (37%), volatility (36%) and lack of budget (30%) .
The complexity of integrating cryptocurrencies with legacy systems and the complexity of integrating multiple cryptocurrencies was the biggest challenge, according to 45% of the merchants surveyed.
Deloitte said it hopes “ongoing education” will create more clarity for regulators, which will enable greater adoption across a broader set of products and services.
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