97% of payment firms believe in the power of crypto

The global payments industry is bullish on the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain to enable faster and cheaper transactions, according to a new survey co-hosted by Ripple.

Blockchain-based digital payment network Ripple, and the Faster Payments Council (FPC) payment organization, issued a report on March 2 covering the opportunities of crypto-enabled payments.

The report titled, “Transforming the Way Money Moves,” provides insights on global crypto payment trends based on a survey sent to over 950 FPC subscribers, including analysts and CEOs across 45 countries. The survey included 281 respondents addressing 25 questions on blockchain payment use cases and benefits, digital asset ownership and usage barriers. Fieldwork for the survey was conducted during the first half of 2022.

According to survey results, nearly every surveyed FPC subscriber — or 97% of respondents — believed that cryptocurrency and blockchain tech would have a significant role in enabling faster payments in the next three years. More than 50% of surveyed payment executives believe that most merchants will accept crypto payments within one to three years.

27% of respondents among Middle East and African executives believe that the majority of merchants will be crypto-friendly by 2024. According to Ripple and FPC, such optimism in these markets could stem from crypto-enabled solutions like mobile payments and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Despite 52% of respondents considering crypto use for payments, only 17% of those supported crypto-enabled payments at the time of the survey, according to the report.

The report notes that the biggest reasons for not adopting crypto technologies for payments were regulatory clarity and limited adoption. Nearly 90% of respondents pointed to regulatory ambiguity as the main hurdle to crypto payments, while 45% of interviewees cited limited industry acceptance.

In 2022, the financial data platform Pymnts, and the crypto payment firm BitPay, issued a survey suggesting that the majority of respondents for businesses with an annual income of $1 billion were adopting crypto payments to find and gain new customers.

Related: Brazil’s oldest bank allows residents to pay their taxes using crypto

The latest report by Ripple further reaffirms the significant potential of crypto-related technologies to become a crucial part of the global financial system. As one survey from Zogby Analytics and CasperLabs suggests, as many as 90% of enterprises in the United States, the United Kingdom and China have been experimenting with blockchain technology since early 2023.

The news comes amid Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s expectations that the XRP lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission would be resolved this year.

“It’s been almost two and a half years since that litigation began. We’ve tried to move forward as quickly as we possibly could,” Garlinghouse said, adding that Ripple expects a decision “certainly in 2023.”