Introduction

The evolution of crypto is movement to mainstream trusted brands.

We conducted this global study to evaluate exactly how consumer perceptions of trust, engagement, and utility have shifted over the past 12 months. What we learned is that consumers resoundingly want to engage in crypto and digital assets, but ‘Trust Matters’.

This study – the first of its kind – provides definitive data on consumer behavior in relation to crypto. The data clearly shows that, despite some of the challenges of the past year, crypto is here to stay: consumers are maintaining or increasing their engagement, they are holding their providers to higher standards, and traditional brands are seeing upside from integrating crypto into their offering. A tangible illustration of this is how Zero Hash powers
Stripe’s crypto payments experience, making it easier to interact with web3 merchants and apps, through a checkout flow as simple as making a purchase on Amazon.

The most impactful conclusion from the study is the fundamental shift in how consumers want to access crypto. Consumers resoundingly want to engage with brands they know and trust. The boundaries between traditional finance and crypto are blurring, as consumers look to traditional companies to access Web3 products that offer greater speed, security, and flexibility.

There is a trend of convergence of companies building and launching crypto offerings to their large customer bases. PayPal and Cash App’s recent revenue announcements have demonstrated continued appetite from consumers to engage in crypto. More fundamentally around cryptograph technology, the aggregate transaction value of fiat-backed stablecoins surpassed the transaction volume of Mastercard and PayPal combined¹. By the end of 2023, it’s expected that on-chain stablecoin volumes will surpass Visa volumes². Or take cross border payments, a $190tr global industry. 25% of US cross-border remittance senders use crypto³ to benefit from faster, cheaper, and more secure payments. 

Another burgeoning use case where we expect the convergence of traditional companies is in the use case of cross border payments, specifically, payroll. Crypto payments are attractive to people who use cryptocurrencies as a hedge against local currency instability, those whose outdated local banking systems slow down payroll, and people who are adding cryptocurrencies to their investment portfolio.

In this report we sought insight and expertise from companies including Stripe, tastytrade, Circle, Plaid, WorldPay, Shift4, Tap Global and Brazil Crypto Report, who believe as we do that trust, simplicity and utility are the essential keys to driving the next wave of adoption and unlocking the potential of crypto and blockchain technology.

Edward Woodford
Founder & CEO
Zero Hash