New study reveals high demand for payments in cryptocurrency

Over 60% of responding crypto owners said that they were interested in using crypto as a payment method to make online purchases more private or secure.

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, while 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. Moreover, 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 the 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; and 51% of respondents said that they would be interested in taking out a loan by using crypto holdings.