85% of Merchants Say Crypto Payments Will Be a Norm by 2026: Deloitte

73% of merchants plan on internally integrating crypto payment within the next three years, a recently published survey has shown. Additionally, over 50% of large retailers (those with revenues of $500M+) are now spending at least $1 million to build crypto payment infrastructures.

Entitled “Merchants Getting Ready for Crypto,” the study was conducted by auditing and consultancy firm Deloitte, in conjunction with PayPal.

From Dec 3-16, the survey polled a total of 2,000 senior executives from various American retail firms. Among them were those in the fashion, cosmetics, electronics, hospitality and leisure, home and garden, and digital goods industries. Others worked in the personal and household goods, transportation, and food and beverage sectors, among other service firms.

Crypto Payments Adoption Expected to Hike Soon

Per the survey, 85% of retailers expect that crypto payments “will be ubiquitous” in their respective industries in five years to come.

Additionally, 73% of those making between $10M to less than $100M plan on enabling digital currency payments, with a $100,000 – $1M budget. In terms of revenue sizes between under $10M and over $500M, this cohort showed the most interest in crypto payments.

This year, over 60% of merchants intend to invest $500,000+ to build crypto payment infrastructures. Already, 26% of merchants have digital currency payment options in place. The likes of Chipotle, Gucci, and AMC Entertainment are likely to fall in this category.

Entities outside the US are also onboarding crypto payments at an increasing frequency. Examples are Thailand’s tourism sector, and Spanish football club RCD Espanyol – the first La Liga team to embrace crypto.
93% of such businesses in the US reported growth in their customer base, the Deloitte survey shows.

Motivational Factors, Challenges, and Solutions

According to the study, merchants’ uptake of crypto payments is mainly driven by their customers’ enthusiasm for the asset class. 64% of them say clients have requested such integrations, and 83% expect this interest to rise over 2022.

About half of these merchants think crypto adoption will take customer experience to a higher notch. A similar number think it will attract more customers, while 40% say it will communicate a “cutting edge” brand.

The greatest challenge (45%) in merchant crypto adoption was the sophistication of integrating crypto payments to legacy systems, especially where multiple digital assets were involved.

Other stumbling blocks were security issues (43%), evolving regulations (37%), crypto volatility (36%), and budget deficiency (30%).

Deloitte expects that “continued education” will offer the much-needed regulatory clarity, erasing the fears and uncertainties of crypto uptake.