KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): Nearly three quarters of United States retailers are planning to accept crypto or stablecoin payments within the next 24 months.

In a report titled "Merchants Getting Ready For Crypto" released by Deloitte in collaboration with PayPal on Wednesday (June 8), it said a large majority, around 85%, of the surveyed merchants said they anticipated that cryptocurrency payments would be ubiquitous in their respective industries in five years.

The survey polled 2,000 senior executives of American retail organisations between Dec 3 and Dec 16, 2021 when crypto prices were still riding high.

Deloitte said the executives were distributed equally among the cosmetics, digital goods, electronics, fashion, food and beverages, home and garden, hospitality and leisure, personal and household goods, services, and transportation sectors.

The firm said although digital currency payments may not yet be an everyday occurrence for the average customer, overall interest in digitally native solutions is significant, especially among younger generations.

"It's a sign to retailers that those that fail to embrace the customers' demand of this trend run the risk of being left behind and losing out on profits.

"There are also shared expectations of broad adoption in the future.

"Around 85% of surveyed merchants expect that digital currency payments will be ubiquitous among suppliers in their industry in five years," it said.

Deloitte said retailers hold an increasingly optimistic view about digital currency as a form of payment and are quick to recognise this as a business imperative.

It said current spends are still on the smaller side but growing significantly.

"Not surprisingly, the larger companies are more likely to be making significant investments in their digital currency adoption plans.

"Over half (54%) of large retailers [with revenues of US$500 million and up] have invested more than US$1 million in enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers [with revenues of under US$10 million have done] so," it said.

Deloitte said the spending will not stop there and is only expected to increase over 2022.

"More than 60% of retailers said they expect budgets of more than US$500,000 to enable crypto payments in the next 12 months to December," it said.