Crypto motivation for shopping 2022

The motivation for consumers to use crypto in retail was related to enthusiasm for new technology, although some replied they had no choice. The data comes from a survey held by CryptoRefills, a company that sells vouchers and gift cards in exchange for cryptocurrencies. Most replies talked about how crypto would eventually take over shopping. Other drivers included security and privacy, with more than half of the respondents stating they found crypto a safer payment option or did not trust financial institutions. Interesting are the answers that touch on a lack of financial access or that crypto is more stable than certain domestic fiat currencies. These responses are related to the unbanked population - or people without a bank account or other financial services - in various countries.

Cryptocurrency payments have a negligible market size

A report on the market share of different payment methods in e-commerce named cryptocurrency an unlikely option for consumers. The source adds that crypto payments in global e-commerce represented 0.19 percent of overall transaction values in 2022 - calling payments a "fringe" use case for the digital tokens. It predicts it will increase to 0.5 percent of global e-commerce transactions by 2026. The market size of crypto payments within payment gateways is expected to have a CAGR of 17 percent between 2022 and 2029, further underlining slow growth in the future.

Are cross-border payments a driver for crypto adoption?

One of the main theories surrounding crypto adoption worldwide is that Latin America, Africa, and Asia are more susceptible to new digital currencies as they are a cheap entryway into financial services that would otherwise be unobtainable. One particular type of payment that is often mentioned is remittances - sending money back to family and friends from abroad. Enthusiasts say cryptocurrency is cheaper than general remittance costs from traditional money transfer organizations (MTOs) or banks, while also relatively easy to use by anyone with a smartphone. Critics point to the requirement of a bank account to be able to use crypto wallets. As it stands, no estimates exist for the market size of cryptocurrency-driven remittances or cross-border payments. Bitcoin's blockchain does not reveal the location of the origin or destination of a transaction.

Most common drivers for consumers worldwide to choose cryptocurrencies in online retail shopping in 2022

Characteristic	Strongly agree	Somewhat agree	Neutral	Somewhat disagree	Strongly disagree
Crypto is the future	50.6%	17.4%	18.2%	7.7%	6.1%
Spending crypto will increase its adoption	45.8%	22%	20.1%	7%	5.1%
I like to test new technologies	42.9%	23.5%	20.3%	6.1%	7.3%
Spending crypto will increase its value	39%	21.1%	25.2%	9.9%	4.8%
Crypto is safer and more secure	35.6%	24.5%	24.7%	9.4%	5.8%
I am against monetary control of banks, governments	36.3%	17.2%	27.4%	10.4%	8.7%
Privacy: I don't trust banks, payment media	35.4%	20.8%	26.9%	8.7%	8.2%
I am an innovator	27.8%	25.4%	30.5%	9.2%	7%
I can't cash-out my crypto	24.9%	17.7%	28.8%	12.8%	15.7%
Crypto is more stable than my local currency	23.5%	17.9%	27.6%	14%	16.9%
I can't access other payment options (credit card, etc.)	19.9%	16.2%	24.9%	12.8%	26.2%
I earned or I was given crypto (salary, loyalty etc.)	11.9%	13.8%	23.5%	12.8%	38%

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Release date

November 2022

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

February to June 2022

Number of respondents

N = 15,960 unique individuals (of which 413 filled in all questions in the survey)

Age group

15 years and older

Special properties

registered users of CryptoRefills, see the "Details" tab for more information on the users

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

Percentage points exceeding 100 percent are probably due to rounding.

The results are unlikely to have been weighted to represent the global population. This as the source adds the following information on the ratio of its respondents when compared to figures from the World Bank:

Europe & Central Asia: 24.8 percent (against 11.8 percent of the world);
South Asia: 20.9 percent (against 24.0 percent of the world);
Sub-Saharan Africa: 13.6 percent (against 14.9 percent of the world);
Middle East & North Africa: 13.1 percent (against 6.0 percent of the world);
East Asia & Pacific: 10.9 percent of the survey (against 30.2 percent of the world's population);
Latin America & Caribbean: 10.2 percent (against 8.4 percent of the world);
North America: 6.6 percent (against 4.7 percent of the world).

Consequently, the source adds it felt Europe & Central Asia was overrepresented whilst East Asia and Pacific was underrepresented. It cited "effective regulations, political embargoes, and access restrictions on many web services provided by the “West” in China, North Korea, etc." as possible reasons for this, but it also did not rule out a language barrier in the survey - as it was only held in English.

Furthermore, the source adds that the share of immigrants among its respondents - 17.2 percent - was higher than the 3.6 percent observed in the world population. It cites "the increasing immigrant population" as a main driver for Europe's overrepresentation.

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