A survey completed by Stack Overflow – one of the foremost communities of developers – has highlighted that only 2% of companies are accepting cryptocurrencies as a method of payment. The Stack Overflow survey asked 88,883 software developers from 179 countries around the world a variety of questions, including how are organizations using blockchain technology and developer opinions on blockchain technology. The results are somewhat surprising considering the recent boom in cryptocurrency payment processors, but it appears as if mass adoption could be further away than many believe.
Visa Could Speed Up the Process
Visa and MasterCard could be lending a surprising hand to the battle for mass adoption, as they both prepare to ramp up their fees significantly. Visa has come out and said that it’s only applying the fees to banks, but banks will likely pass on these fees to merchants – meaning the cost of goods and services will likely go up in tandem. In America, Smiths has already dropped Visa payments and is looking at using the Lightning Network in the face of these new fees. It’s industry leaders such as Smiths that will drive more companies to adopt crypto payments – or at least that’s the idea.
80% Not Even Looking at Blockchain Technology
A slightly more worrying statistic is that 80% of respondent’s companies aren’t even looking at using blockchain technology. While not all industries can benefit from blockchain, there are a large number of areas that can adapt, becoming stronger and more efficient. Whether it’s due to the fact that decision makers aren’t yet fully knowledgeable about blockchain technology and its advantages, or if they are looking into blockchain technology but haven’t informed their developers, is not clear, but it remains a worrying statistic.
Tax Is the Biggest Culprit
When it comes to accepting cryptocurrencies, there are very few tax calculation systems that plug into existing accounting software. This means companies would need to implement an entirely new system and train staff on the new software just to accept crypto payments. For many businesses it’s simply not worth the hassle. Until tax regulations and reporting become clear cut and simple, mass adoption will never happen, it’s just that simple.
This new research from Stack Overflow is slightly alarming, but it’s still early days for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. When the email was first invented, only two people were using it. Now, there are more than two billion people using email. It just takes a bit of time for it to become the norm.
