B2B firms want cross-border payments but skeptical of crypto: Survey

Business-to-business commerce has stayed away from adopting cryptocurrency payments so far due to alleged lack of convenience, a new survey suggests.
Business-to-business commerce has stayed away from adopting cryptocurrency payments so far due to alleged lack of convenience, a new survey suggests.

Cryptocurrencies appear to be far from ready for business-to-business (B2B) commerce sodue to factors like lack of convenience, a new survey suggests.

According to a joint survey by payment-related startups Invoiced and PaymentsNEXT, 59% of B2B respondents are not open to the idea of accepting cryptocurrency as a means of payment.

Released on Thursday, the survey found that only 2% of respondents have adopted crypto payments, while 39% indicated an intention to accept cryptocurrency in the future. The August 2021 study is based on online survey responses from 269 finance professionals.

Source: Invoiced

According to the survey’s findings, B2B companies apparently prefer check payments to other payment methods like debit cards, with 77% of respondents indicating they accept checks as a means of payment. Virtual cards and cryptocurrency payments are way down the popularity list, with only 14% and 4% of respondents accepting them as payment, respectively.

Source: Invoiced

According to the report, an alleged lack of convenience is one of the biggest impediments to the adoption of crypto payments by B2B firms, as 30% of respondents indicated that convenience is a key decision factor when considering this payment option. Twenty-six percent of respondents also indicated that they need cryptocurrency payments to “appreciate in value for the business.” Other reasons included issues related to transaction fees, customer demand and demonstrable innovation.

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While the majority of B2B firms are apparently not yet ready to adopt crypto payments, such companies reportedly face a significant demand for virtual card and cross-border payments, with 64% and 62% of respondents exploring or adopting these areas, respectively.

As previously reported, payments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) make up one of its biggest use case demands, with 60% of crypto owners in the United States indicating interest in using crypto as a payment method. Some major crypto companies, like Ripple, are focused on providing cross-border payment solutions, such as RippleNet's On-Demand Liquidity, which uses the XRP cryptocurrency.