This article is from cointelegraph.com.br and the original article can be read here in Portuguese
There is a growing demand in Latin America to use Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies for payments on purchases. According to a recent survey carried out by CoinsPaid, it is not just an online phenomenon: in Brazil 36.3% of respondents said they would be interested in paying for purchases in physical stores with cryptocurrencies.
The rest of Brazilian respondents reported that they would only use crypto in physical stores under specific circumstances: 9.1% would only use it in a strong/family-branded store; 10.6% would only use cryptocurrencies in stores for high-value items; while 7.1% only for small value purchases.
In general, 63.1% of Brazilians said they are ready to adopt cryptocurrency payments for at least some of your physical retail purchases.
The survey reveals that Brazilians are aligned with other countries in the region regarding the desire to use cryptocurrencies: 65.4% of Colombians stated that they would be ready to use cryptocurrencies for at least some payments in retail stores and 65% of Argentines said the same.
Meanwhile, 35% of Argentines said they would never use a cryptocurrency in physical stores and 44.5% would never use it online; while 34.6% of Colombians reported that they would never use cryptocurrencies in a physical store and 29.3% would never use digital currency to pay online.
“There is an assumption among some companies that since cryptocurrencies are digital currencies, customers will only want to use them as a means of payment in the online world. However, this is clearly not the case in the rest of the world and we are finding more and more that this does not represent the retail experience in Latin America”, says Rafael Brunacci, Business Development Manager at CoinsPaid in Latin America.
Payments with Bitcoin
The research identifies the main obstacles to the growth of the use of cryptocurrencies. In Brazil, 36.2% of survey respondents signaled that confidence in the security of such a payment could make them more likely to use cryptocurrencies as payments – more than any other factor.
At the same time, Brazilians also said that if, when buying with cryptocurrencies, they had special discounts on products (26.8%) or greater convenience and comfort (26.3%) as possible benefits, they would feel more encouraged to choose a digital currency as a form of payment.
Brunacci says the rapid growth of businesses that help companies process cryptocurrency payments is testament to individuals’ growing demand for options beyond traditional ‘fiat’ currencies.
The survey found that the item respondents would most choose to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment were home appliances (27.1%), but travel (25.8%), food (22.5%) and online games (18.8%) were also popular choices.
However, respondents also signaled that there is an opportunity for retailers to improve their brand through offering cryptocurrencies as a means of payment: more than half (50.5%) of all respondents in Brazil said they have a positive view of companies that offer cryptocurrency payment services and 42.9% believe that the option to use cryptocurrencies created a very favorable view of the retailer.
Only 37.1% said that a company’s ability to process cryptocurrencies for payments would not affect their perception of the company.
Meanwhile, another survey by CoinsPaid shows that the use of cryptocurrencies as payment is on the rise. In 2021, the use of Bitcoin (BTC) as a means of payment reached $14.5 billion per day during periods of low volatility and spanned all types of retail, both online and brick-and-mortar, and across different industry segments.
“Purchases in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin obviously increase when their own value is stable, but the trend is clear. Between December 2020 and January 2022, cryptocurrency transactions totaled $1.8 trillion – which is a huge amount for retail activity and illustrates the importance for businesses to accept digital currency payments,” says Brunacci.