BlackRock Expands Presence in the Middle East
BlackRock has secured a licence to expand its focus on AI and further solidifying its presence in the UAE's crypto-supportive ecosystem.
Companies and service providers are often seeking something unique that sets them apart from competitors who don’t offer or cater to that thing. As the world has started to implement technological techniques and strategies, there has been a rapid pull to innovative ideas and it seems cryptocurrency and accepting crypto payments is something customers are interested in – to such a degree that companies might consider crypto to give themselves one-up on competitors.
According to a recent survey conducted by payment network Mercuryo, 57% of the business respondents in the survey believe that adding cryptocurrency payments to a company will be able to give them the competitive edge. 68% of the respondents also believe that there is a massive need to introduce innovative payments across sectors and 60% of those who are accepting cryptocurrency for payments have reported that there has been an increased demand after introducing crypto payments.
According to the report, 78% of adults in the United Kingdom in 2021 reported they are aware of cryptocurrencies (compared to 73% in 2020). Those who own or trade in cryptocurrencies is 4.4% of the population – roughly around 2.3 million crypto holders in 2021, compared to 3.9% in 2020. Furthermore, nearly 20% of those bought cryptocurrency with the intention of using them to buy goods and services.
Of the 501 senior financial decision-makers in the United Kingdom, 45% of authorities in the companies believe that cryptocurrency is the future of business payments. Of those involved in large companies, this figure rises to a massive over 70% of respondents advocating that cryptocurrency will and does offer an advantage over competitors. As per the report:
“Our research highlights that 75% of all large companies believe cryptocurrency will eventually be integrated into every form of financial services.”
The growing demand for cryptocurrency payments
The report and survey from Mercuryo highlights the evidence found from the results from a recent study from Pyments.com. In the study, the major payments-focused publication found that a massive 93% of cryptocurrency users or holders would use their crypto for payments in the future. To emphasise this, 59% of those who have never held cryptocurrency said that they would be interested in using crypto to make purchases.
Over 60% of crypto owners stated that they would be very or extremely interested in using crypto as a payment method. This would be in order to ensure greater privacy and security of online purchases. Nearly 25% of non-crypto holders expressed the asme interest in using crypto to add security to online ordering. Furthermore, 57% of crypto owners said that they would be more interested in using crypto to pay for online purchases if the payment options were more readily accessible at checkouts, while 21% of non-crypto holders said the same.
While there is a strong indicator of the interest customers have towards making use of cryptocurrency for payments, the level of crypto-payment adoption is still surprisingly low. According to the research, more than half of those who do not hold cryptocurrency expressed that there aren’t enough merchants accepting crypto payments as it stands. This lack of option could be a deterrent for non-crypto users and could be an obstacle for greater crypto adoption. As more businesses recognise – and act on – the functionality and opportunities that offering crypto payments might provide, we might start to see more companies introduce crypto payments and start seeing greater use for digital currencies across the board.