Crypto adoption on way to mainstream, says new Checkout.com report

At the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami today, leading global payments provider Checkout.com debuted its Demystifying Crypto: Shedding light on the adoption of digital currencies for payments in 2022 report, pointing to increasingly positive trends in the adoption of and appetite for using digital currencies for eCommerce.

The comprehensive report independently surveyed a total of 30,000 consumers and 3,000 merchants in 11 countries*, looking at behaviors and sentiments regarding commercial activity using cryptocurrencies. The first chapter of the report hones in on the specific trends in the 18-35 year old age bracket, of which there were 16,000 participants.

According to the findings, crypto is rapidly gaining in appeal among younger demographics in particular, with 40% of 18-35 year old consumers wanting and planning to use cryptocurrencies to pay for goods or services within the next year. That’s up from less than 30% last year, and marks a substantial shift in attitude from digital currencies being seen as solely an investment vehicle to a means of doing business on a regular basis. It also sees consumers pacing ahead of online businesses, only 23% of which say they are planning to offer crypto payment as a method of payment by 2024.

This increased consumer openness to cryptocurrency is driven by a broader appetite for more convenient, safer payment methods. That is then matched by more merchants and third parties providing the underlying infrastructure to support those methods.

As a result, crypto is already having a material impact on merchants and the market overall. More than $2.5 billion worth of payments were made through Visa’s crypto-backed card in the first fiscal quarter of 2022 alone[1]. And those merchants that embraced cryptocurrency payments experienced net-new growth, with 82% saying those options allowed them to rapidly attract new customers and reach new demographics.

Almost 70% of the merchants surveyed believe that the speed with which crypto payments can be made and settled has the potential to revolutionize their business models—with over 80% of merchants with existing crypto-payment options saying it was easier to settle than using fiat currencies.

“We believe this is the largest consumer survey of its kind, and the findings present a clear evolution of attitudes towards cryptocurrencies around the world. This is a legitimate transition from the early adoption phase to one that’s more practical, pragmatic and positive overall,” said Jess Houlgrave, head of strategy for crypto at Checkout.com.

“This transition means there’s a groundswell in demand for fintech companies that can provide easy-to-deploy solutions and services to get merchants up and running with crypto payment options—and then help them optimize the process over time. We expect that trend to only get stronger over the coming year as we bridge more services into Web3.”