50% of Payment Firms See Merchants Embracing Crypto Settlements Within 3 Years (Survey)

A joint study conducted by Ripple and the Faster Payments Council (FPC) estimated that more than half of the surveyed leaders of payment firms think most merchants will accept cryptocurrencies as a settlement method within one to three years. 

Almost every participant suggests that blockchain technology will enable faster financial transactions in the near future.

Crypto Could Transform Cross-Border Payments

More than half of the 300 respondents think global merchants will say “yes” to crypto payments in the next three years. Participants in the Middle East and Africa are more bullish: 27% believe this will happen in the next 12 months. Latin Americans seem the most bearish, with 67% predicting this to occur more than three years from now.

Over 50% of the surveyed leaders think lowering payment costs (both internationally and locally) is crypto’s main merit. 

“In particular, domestic payment providers see crypto as an answer to transaction and processing fees—which are often up to 4%, per the US Chamber of Commerce. Interestingly, while these providers cite lower costs of cross-border payments as crypto’s primary value proposition, only about half currently provide cross-border payment services today,” the research reads.

The vast majority of respondents (97%) believe cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will have a “significant or very significant” role in enabling faster transactions in the next 36 months. They also claimed digital assets could transform cross-border settlements.

The UK-based marketing company – Juniper Research – supported that notion, saying blockchain technology has the potential to increase savings to financial institutions conducting international transactions to $10 billion by 2030.

“Observers shouldn’t underestimate the transformative opportunity here: Global cross-border payment flows are expected to reach $156 trillion–driven by a 5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR),” the analysis added.

Just 17% Have Already Embraced Crypto Payments

Despite the overall bullishness on crypto’s possible merits, only 17% of the respondents revealed they had adopted cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. The main obstacles for organizations to hop on the bandwagon are regulatory uncertainty (87%), limited industry acceptance (45%), and concerns about customer protection (24%). 

However, Ripple opined that the US could be on the right path to setting appropriate cryptocurrency rules, outlining President Joe Biden’s roadmap to regulate the industry and ensure maximum investor protection. Susan Friedman – Director of Policy at Ripple – also said the communication between the blockchain firm and the US authorities had improved lately:

“We now have leaders in Congress on both sides of the aisle championing legislative solutions. The dialogue around crypto is much more sophisticated than it was two years ago,” Susan Friedman – Director of Policy, Ripple – said.