Crypto payments gain ground thanks to centralized payment processors

The cryptocurrency market has grown beyond many people’s expectations over the past decade. The nascent industry has managed to change mainstream perception quite significantly, especially in 2021, which saw many traditional financial institutions adopt crypto in one form or another.

Some of the biggest public companies such as MicroStrategy started using Bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury hedge, while the likes of PayPal, Mastercard and Visa paved the way for the common public to use crypto as a form of payment. While many experts are still skeptical about the use of crypto as a form of payment, given its price volatility, recent market trends and data indicate that crypto is increasingly being used to buy daily-use items.

A recent report from fintech payment infrastructure provider checkout.com that surveyed 33,000 business leaders revealed a rise in consumer interest in paying in crypto. The report indicated that 40% of 18–35-year-old consumers want and plan to use cryptocurrencies to pay for goods or services within the next year. That’s up from less than 30% last year.

The rise of digital payments aided by the COVID-19 pandemic has only made it easier for crypto to become more mainstream. People are more familiar with QR code payments today, which makes it easier for mainstream payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard to introduce crypto payments on its network without having to build a separate infrastructure.

Miles Paschini, CEO at fintech bank FV Bank, told Cointelegraph:

“The use of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment has progressed in the past year but primarily into the area of settlement layers, advancements have been made with stablecoins, in particular with USDC and to some extent XRP. The developments we have seen in the settlement layer are not exactly visible to the retail customer. I think we will see more of this type of settlement layer integration in the future as stable similarly similar become more efficient and programmable than traditional settlement systems.”

The growth of crypto payment networks and public interest

According to a report from Visa, its network processed over $1 billion in crypto transactions in the first quarter of 2021, which increased to $2.5 billion by the first quarter of 2022. The report highlighted that crypto payments have become increasingly popular with the rise in the use of stablecoin payments.

Mastercard partnered with USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin issuer Circle to facilitate crypto-based payment…