Cryptocurrency payments on the High Street will become a reality within two years, says a new payments industry study from UK-based card service provider Paymentsense.
Over a third (35 percent) of the small and medium sized businesses polled said they expect stores to regularly transact in cryptocurrency by 2020, while some 21 percent said this could happen by next year.
Despite these predictions, only one in ten small business owners (13 percent) already accept cryptocurrency, the study from UK-based card service provider Paymentsense said.
The recent volatility of Bitcoin doesn’t seem to have discouraged SME owners when it comes to their own cryptocurrency investment, Paymentsense stated. Almost 60 percent said they’d consider investing, with 18 percent already doing so.
Guy Moreve, head of marketing at Paymentsense said, in a statement: “It’s clear that cryptocurrencies are moving swiftly towards the mainstream. However, small business owners considering cryptocurrency as a payment option should be clear about how they can integrate it with their existing financial arrangements. Will suppliers or staff accept it? Can they pay local and national government agencies with it?
“The value of unregulated cryptocurrency changes fast,” he added. “This has significant implications for an SME’s revenue security. For entrepreneurs in emerging sectors, it might be worth the risks involved, but for others in more established or slower-moving areas it could be wiser to wait and see how things evolve over the next six to 12 months.”
Research source: https://www.paymentsense.co.uk/blog/cryptocurrency-payments-research/