Deloitte report confirms the advantages of crypto

According to a Deloitte report done in collaboration with PayPal on 2000 US retail executives, the adoption of crypto as payment would be a competitive advantage.

Deloitte: the advantage of enabling crypto payments 

According to a Deloitte study of 2,000 senior retail executives in the US and conducted in collaboration with PayPal, 87% of retailers believe that accepting cryptocurrencies is a competitive advantage.

Furthermore, 85% think the retail industry will accept cryptocurrency payments within the next five years. In contrast, 83% think that within the next ten years, cryptocurrency payments will become legal.

This idea stems from the interest that most customers seem to have in this form of payment, according to 64% of respondents. As many as 83% of respondents believe that customers’ interest in digital assets will increase within the next twelve months.

The report states:

“Although digital currency payments may not yet be an everyday occurrence for the average customer, overall interest in digitally native solutions is significant, especially among younger generations. It’s a sign to retailers that those that fail to embrace the customers’ demand of this trend run the risk of being left behind and losing out on profits”.

Retailers are motivated by the prospect that cryptocurrencies allow immediate access to funds (40% of respondents). They can also reap the benefits of blockchain-based innovations such as DeFi (39%) and can be facilitated in the internal management of the revenue-treasury-finance cycle (39%).

54% of responding retailers that invoice more than $500 million said they have invested more than $1 million to enable digital currency payments. While 6% of those billing under 10 million said they had invested the same amount.

The study’s conclusions 

Zachary Aron, partner Deloitte Consulting LLP and head of the research, said:

“This survey shows that merchants view acceptance of digital currencies – driven by consumer acceptance and demand – as key to driving business, and those that are slow to adopt run the risk of falling significantly behind”.

The manager went on to say:

“Customer demand for more innovative and flexible options is now a given, and merchants are finding the means to deliver digital payments in more effective ways, creating value for each player in the transactional flow”.

It is also for these reasons that investment spending on cryptocurrency adoption is expected to increase in the coming year. Indeed, 60% of respondents say they expect a budget of more than $500,000 to enable digital currency payments in the next 12 months.