High-earning Millennials are embracing crypto payments
Nearly a third of consumers say they want to use cryptocurrency to make payments in the coming years, with higher incomes and those struggling to live within their means leading the way.
The rather interesting combination comes from “Paying with Cryptocurrency: Can Crypto at the Checkout Become a Profit Center for Merchants?”, an August report from PYMNTS and BitPay.
In either case, it’s a steady progression, with 23% of those who don’t live paycheck to paycheck saying a main motivation for buying cryptocurrency is to make payments. For those comfortably living paycheck to paycheck, that rises to 32%, but for those struggling paycheck to paycheck, it’s 43%.
So the differences are big, jumping around points in each group.
While the same progression can be seen at the income level, the differences are smaller. A third of consumers with incomes below $50,000 plan to pay with crypto in the coming year. That rises to 32% among those earning $50,000 to $100,000, and to 36% for those earning over $100,000.
By and large, there is a steady increase in the desire to pay with crypto as age decreases, but with one notable exception: Members of Generation Z are slightly less likely than their millennial counterparts to see crypto payments in the 12-month future, at 38% and 39% respectively.
Surprisingly, a whopping 24% of seniors want to be able to make crypto payments, despite nearly 70% saying they have no plans to make purchases with crypto. Gen X reaches 29%, with bridge millennials up over 35%.
Then there’s what people who actually own cryptocurrency want to spend it on.
Most interestingly, there is surprisingly little variation between people who want to spend in retail and on groceries, and online gamblers and those who want to pay for financial or streaming services.
Across 10 spending categories, between 53% and 58% were interested in paying for goods and services with crypto.
Get the report: Paying with cryptocurrency: Can crypto at checkout become a profit center for merchants?
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