The global payments industry is bullish on the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain to enable faster and cheaper transactions, according to a new survey conducted in conjunction with Ripple.
Blockchain-based digital payment network Ripple and payment organization Faster Payments Council (FPC) on March 2 published a report dedicated to the payment opportunities that crypto can use.
Titled “Changing the Way Money Moves,” the report provides insight into global crypto payment trends based on a survey sent to more than 950 FPC customers, such as analysts and CEOs in 45 countries. The survey included a total of 281 respondents who completed 25 questions on the topics of blockchain payment use cases and benefits, ownership of digital assets and barriers to use. Fieldwork for the survey is being carried out during the first half of 2022.
According to the survey results, almost every FPC customer surveyed – or 97% of respondents – believe that cryptocurrency and blockchain technology will play an important role in making payments faster in the next three years. More than 50% of payments executives surveyed believe that most merchants will accept crypto payments within one to three years.
27% of respondents to Middle East and African executives believe that the majority of merchants will be crypto-friendly in 2024. According to Ripple and FPC, the optimism in the market can come from crypto-enabled solutions like mobile payments and central banks. digital currency, or CBDC.
Although 52% of respondents are considering using crypto for payments, only 17% of them support crypto-enabled payments during the survey, according to the report.
The biggest reasons for not using crypto technology for payments by respondents are regulatory clarity and limited adoption, the report noted. Nearly 90% of respondents pointed to regulatory ambiguity as the main obstacle to crypto payments, while 45% of those interviewed cited limited industry acceptance.
In 2022, financial data platform Pymnts and crypto payment company Bitpay released a survey showing that the majority of respondents for businesses with annual revenue of $1 billion use crypto payments to find and acquire new customers.
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The latest report by Ripple further underlines the important potential of crypto-related technologies to become an important part of the global financial system. As one survey from Zogby Analytics and CasperLabs suggests, about 90% of companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and China have tried blockchain technology since the beginning of 2023.
The news comes amid Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s expectation that XRP’s lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission will be settled this year.
“It’s been almost two and a half years since the litigation. We’ve tried to move forward as quickly as possible,” Garlinghouse said saidadding that Ripple expects a decision “definitely in 2023.”