Research Shows People Expect Crypto To Be Legal Tender in 3 Yrs

According to the latest research paper from Economist Impact, commissioned by Crypto.com, there is a shifting landscape regarding digital currencies. Economist Impact explored the extent to which consumers trust digital payments and what barriers may exist to essential monetary functions becoming predominantly electronic.

Comparing consumers’ attitudes with similar surveys conducted in 2020 and 2021, they discovered that cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are now at crossroads with credit cards and payment apps.

Economist Impact communicated its findings via a PDF file titled “Digimentality 2022—Fear and favouring of digital currency” on July 6, 2022. They surveyed 3,000 people, of which one-half of the respondents were from developed economies like the United States and the United Kingdom, and the other half came from developing nations like Brazil and the Philippines.

Fourteen percent of the people favored CBDCs, representing a significant increase from the miserly 4% in 2021. Interestingly, 37% of consumers expect their government or central bank to make cryptocurrency legal tender within the next three years, and about one-third expect the launch of CBDC.

Tobias Adrian, a director of the Monetary and Capital Markets at IMF, said

It’s natural for physical cash to be complemented by digital cash as the world is becoming more digital, and it’s a natural evolution. It might not be used much, but in principle, being possible to convert into central bank digital currency might be an important anchor for the digital economy.

Notably, more than 60 central banks are at different stages of CBDC development. According to the 2021 CBDC Global Index from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a professional services firm, China and Sweden have started live pilots.