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

Cryptocurrencies appear to be far from ready for business-to-business (B2B) commerce so far due 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 adopted crypto payments so far, while 39% of those indicated any level of intention to accept cryptocurrency in the future. The study is based on online survey responses from 269 finance professionals from August 2021.

According to the survey’s findings, B2B companies apparently prefer check payments to other payment methods like debit cards, with 77% of respondents indicating to 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 so far, respectively.

According to the report, the alleged lack of convenience is one of the biggest impediments for B2B firms to adopt crypto payments, as 30% of respondents indicated that convenience is a key decision factor when considering this payment option. 26% 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 demonstrating 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.