STAMFORD, Conn. — A new report is suggesting that by 2024 20% of large organizations will use digital currencies for payments, stored value, or collateral.
The widening adoption of digital currencies will be partly driven by the “healthy environment of service providers and off-the-shelf solutions available to large enterprises that have identified a specific use case for digital currencies, reported Datamation,” citing research from Gartner.
“Increasing mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies on traditional payment platforms and the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will push many large enterprises to incorporate digital currencies into their applications in the coming years,” said Avivah Litan, VP analyst, Gartner’s IT practice. “Digital currencies will be primarily used by these organizations for payment, a store of value and the ability to leverage high-yield investments available in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.”
Additional Factors
Moreover, several other factors could make digital currency applications more palatable to CFOs in the next 12-24 months, including hedging against the high inflation, increased regulatory clarity, improvements in energy usage, and adoption by employees, consumers, and suppliers, according to Alexander Bant, chief of research, Gartner’s finance practice.
“We have noticed an uptick in interest in digital currency and blockchain applications among CFOs since the start of the year,” Bant said. “While volatility of cryptocurrencies remains a concern, anticipation of clearer regulatory guidance, and the advent of CBDCs, now offers CFOs more avenues to pressure-test use cases for digital currencies. Organizations should first clarify specific use cases for digital currencies before evaluating appropriate IT stacks to incorporate them within the enterprise.
‘Theoretical Appeal’
“There has always been theoretical appeal in the use of blockchain and digital currencies for CFOs as a means to lower costs, increase transaction processing speed, reach new global customers, move toward continuous accounting and auditing, and create an error-free and fraud-free environment,” continued Bant.