Four years away, guys, hardly as long as it takes to blink, and we'd likely be perched in beach chairs on the Moon.
Remember last year September when there was that fake press release circulating saying that Walmart was adopting Litecoin? In less than 30 seconds, LTC was shooting for the stars faster than a NASA space rocket.
Well, I'm thinking if that's the way users behaved last year for a rumor, wonder what it would be like if tons of mainstream merchants were to actually onboard crypto payments. Being a diamond hand (long term HODLer) would sure pay off then, right?
Well, my friends, if a recent report by Deloitte in collaboration with PayPal is anything to go by, such a future may not be that far away.
Admittedly, the report titled, Merchants getting ready for cryptois based on a survey of a sample audience including 2,000 senior executives at US retail organizations in a study conducted during the period December 3rd and December 16th, 2021- a period when the market was not nearly as brutally red as it is today.
Nevertheless, the report noted that over the past few years, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have been seeking to accelerate digital transformations as their customers have demonstrated
"significant interest in using digital currencies for payments".
The report states:
"83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments
to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months...
In line with the above, more than 85% of the organizations are
giving high or very high priority to enabling cryptocurrency
payments, while roughly 83% are doing the same for stablecoins."
It noted that 87% of the merchants surveyed agreed that organizations accepting digital currencies had a competitive advantage while 93% of those accepting cryptocurrency as a payment instrument had
already seen a positive impact on their business’s customer
metrics.
It should be noted though that while some merchants are building out their digital currency capabilities by partnering with third party payment processors, their willingness to enable digital currency payments does not mean that they intend to become investors or to hold crypto assets. Instead, more than half the respondents in the Deloitte survey indicated that they are seeking to convert the currency back to fiat via their payment processors. Listen, I'm gonna take small victories, all right?
The report by Deloitte certainly helps to give further insight into the evolving school of thought in the US retail industry. Of late, we have heard news of a number of luxury brands, among them Gucci, Hubolt, Franck Muller, and Norqain, accepting cryptocurrency payments. Most recently, online luxury marketplace, Farfetch announced that it would also accept crypto payments.
First it starts as a trickle, then it becomes a flood, right? I'm all for it, guys. You'll see no complaints here. Matter of fact, I've already placed a beach chair in my cart on Walmart's site, and I'm just waiting for the real press release to come out announcing their adoption of crypto payments.
But tell me, my friends, what do you think? Do you think merchant adoption will influence the crypto market and prices overall? Or is this simply a drop in the well the way you see it?