By George Ward
According to recent research co-conducted by Ripple, most of the global payment firms still believe in the power of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to facilitate cheaper and faster transactions. One of the largest blockchain payment solutions providers, Ripple, and the Faster Payments Council (FPC) issued the report based on their latest findings.
What The Survey Shows
The study, titled “Transforming the Way Money Moves,” highlights the trends of global crypto payments based on the survey sample from more than 950 FPC subscribers like CEOs and financial analysts across 45 countries. The survey comprises 281 respondents, with 25 questions covering blockchain payments, use cases, benefits, digital asset ownership, and barriers.
In addition, the fieldwork for the research was carried out in the first quarter of 2022. Based on the study’s outcome, nearly all FPC subscribers surveyed are bullish on the role of crypto and blockchain in enhancing faster and more affordable transactions in the next few years.
Additionally, over 50% of the executives from payment platforms believe that most merchants will start accepting payments in digital assets in the next one to three years. Furthermore, 27% of the respondents representing the Middle East and African executives noted that most merchants they interact with will embrace crypto payments in 2024.
According to the survey’s authors, Ripple and FPC, the high degree of optimism shown by key players in the financial payment sector are a testament to the efficiency of crypto-based settlement solutions like mobile payment and central bank digital currency (CBDC).
However, despite 52% of participants considering crypto as a means of payment, 17% of the respondents support crypto-based payments at the time of conducting the survey. On a broader scale, the report shows that the most significant reason respondents have yet to adopt crypto payments is due to regulatory uncertainty and limited adoption.
Close to 90% of respondents cited regulatory doubt as the primary hindrance to crypto payment, with 45% citing limited industry adoption.
Crypto And Blockchain Payments On The Rise
Last year, the financial data entity Pymnts, in collaboration with Bitpay, the crypto payment platform, co-authored a survey showing that most respondents having businesses with an annual income of $1 billion are considering adopting crypto payments.
Interestingly, the survey revealed that the main push behind the firm’s drive to adopt crypto payment is to find and attract new customers to their businesses. Meanwhile, the latest Ripple report suggests that crypto-related payment technology is rapidly becoming crucial to the global financial ecosystem.
Another survey conducted by Zogby Analytics and CasperLabs disclosed that nearly 90% of businesses in the United States, UK, and China, started exploring blockchain technology early this year.