Half of UK and US digital asset holders would prefer crypto salary
MORE than half of all cryptocurrency investors in the UK and US would rather be paid in digital assets instead of pounds or dollars, new research has revealed.
Work by payments platform Paysafe discovered that 55 per cent of owners – rising to 60 per cent in the 18 to 24-year-old bracket – would prefer to get paid their salary in cryptocurrency.
The main reasons given included respondents labelling cryptocurrencies as a smart investment, believing that they’ll likely get paid in it soon anyway, and greater financial flexibility.
The research ‘Inside the crypto community: Plotting the journey to mass adoption’ surveyed a cross section of 2,000 crypto owners living in the US and UK, including their attitudes towards the future of decentralised finance (DeFi).
Some 54 per cent of crypto owners agreed that cryptocurrency was the future of finance and would eventually take over as the dominant form of international currency. This was also the primary motivation for owning crypto in the first place, ahead of making money from trading or investing.
However, the research suggested these conclusions weren’t reached lightly, and that consideration had been given to numerous concerns.
In fact, 70% of people admitted to having doubts about investing in crypto at some point since they started trading, with 49 per cent admitting to cashing out either some or all of their cryptocurrency assets at some point as a result of uncertainty.
The main reason – 24 per cent – for not wishing to be paid in cryptocurrency was that ‘it can’t be used to make payments widely enough at present’.
Additionally, 22 per cent of respondents said they would invest further in crypto if more retailers accepted it as a form of payment.
Some 59 per cent agreed that the lack of real-world applications for cryptocurrencies, such as payments, was currently preventing crypto from reaching its full potential.
Despite some of these potential stumbling blocks, crypto owners appeared optimistic on the timeline to widespread adoption. Sixty per cent agreed that online purchases with many more online retailers this time next year would be possible, while 47 per cent believed that accepting cryptocurrencies in physical stores would be commonplace within the next 12 months.
Remarkably, a staggering 49 per cent of those quizzed believe that everyone will own cryptocurrency in some form or another within the next five years.