Report: Nearly a third of small businesses in the U.S. currently accept payments in crypto

Skynova provides invoicing software for small businesses and in order to gauge the level of adoption when it comes to crypto payments, the company surveyed 584 small-business owners and managers located in the US.

The survey revealed that nearly a third of small US businesses currently accept cryptocurrency as an acceptable form of payment.

Most crypto-friendly cities

While relying on data collected from CoinMap, which keeps tabs on businesses that accept crypto, the report ranked major US cities according to their crypto-friendliness, based on the number of cryptocurrency ATMs, crypto-accepting restaurants, and crypto-accepting retailers.

While Los Angeles surfaced as the top city for all three categories, Chicago followed as the second friendliest.

“Illinois has been making intense pushes to become the epicenter of cryptocurrency, while the state is home to one of the largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining facilities in the Midwest,” noted the report, reminding that Illinois is working on a bill, which would make it the second state in the country, following Wyoming, to allow special trusts, like banks, to hold crypto.

“Business owners in Chicago are evidently anticipating cryptos longevity in their city,” concluded the report

Crypto as a payment option

According to Skynova, 32% of small business owners and top-level executives said that their business currently accepts crypto.

“Once PayPal enabled online vendors to accept Bitcoin in 2014, the decision to go crypto was cemented for many small-business owners,” argued the report, noting that 59% of respondents agreed that major companies, like PayPal, giving the green light was their primary influence.

Half of the respondents (50%) said that they were also influenced by innovative companies like Tesla getting in on the crypto game.

Most often, businesses accepted Bitcoin (58%), Bitcoin Cash (36%) and Ethereum (35%), while accepting Litecoin (28%) and Binance Coin (24%) remains less common.

Volatility of the crypto market (50%) and high risks involved (45%) were stated as the primary reasons for opposing the idea of accepting crypto

Based on the survey results, most business owners seemed to be open to introducing crypto as a payment option.

A quarter said they should start accepting cryptocurrency but dont know how. Twenty percent were already considering accepting crypto, while an additional 7% actively planned to make the switch.