New study reveals high demand for payments in cryptocurrency

Payments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) make up one of the biggest use case demands among consumers alongside long-term investment, according to new data.

Pymnts, a major payments-focused publication, released Monday a report on consumer preferences regarding cryptocurrency payments. Dubbed “Cryptocurrency Payments Playbook: Cryptocurrencies Gain Momentum As A Payment Option,” the study analyzes a survey of over 8,000 consumers in the United States, including existing and former crypto holders as well as crypto non-owners.

Conducted in collaboration with crypto payment firm BitPay, the study found that crypto holders and non-owners are interested in crypto payments. As many as 93% of responding crypto users indicated that they would consider making purchases in crypto in the future, 59% of consumers who have never held crypto are interested in using it to make purchases.

More than 60% of crypto owners said that they were “very” or “extremely” interested in using crypto as a payment method to make online purchases more private or secure, while 23% of non-owners showed interest in using crypto for these purposes. 57% of crypto owners also indicated that they would be interested in making online purchases in crypto if such payment options were automatically available at the checkout. In comparison, nearly 21% of non-owners expressed the same interest.

Related: Crypto ownership has nothing to do with distrust in fiat: BIS study

Despite both crypto owners and non-owners expressing significant interest in making payments in crypto, the level of crypto payment adoption is still low. The study noted that more than 50% of non-owners “agree” or “strongly agree” that there are not enough merchants accepting crypto for payments. Another 30% indicated that using crypto as a form of payment would make them spend more than they would when using only traditional methods like credit cards.

Crypto payments is not a sole major use case for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. On Tuesday, major global crypto exchange Coinbase released a survey of over 2,000 British adults showing that 41% of respondents were willing to buy crypto as part of long-term investment strategy as their key motivation. 51% of respondents said that they would be interested in taking out a loan by using crypto holdings.