61% of Businesses See Operational Efficiency as Blockchain and Crypto Opportunity

Executives with a deeper understanding of how blockchain technology works tend to use or exhibit openness to using it at a higher rate than those with little or no knowledge of it, according to Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Cross-Border Payments, a PYMNTS and Circle collaboration that surveyed 250 financial institutions.

Get the Report: Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Cross-Border Payments

Among the business decision-makers who said they are using or willing to use blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, 42% said they understand it either very well or extremely well.

By contrast, among the respondents who said they do not use the technology, none said they understood it more than moderately well, and 79% said they understand it only slightly well or not at all.

The survey also found that decision-makers at larger companies tend to be more comfortable with blockchain and crypto. Forty-nine percent of those at companies with annual revenues of more than $1 billion said they were extremely or very comfortable with adopting blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, as did 39% of those at companies with annual revenues of $250 million to $1 billion.

Those percentages were much higher than those of smaller companies. Only 19% of decision-makers at companies with annual revenues of $100 million to $249 million, 26% of those at companies with annual revenues of $50 million to $99 million and none of those at companies with annual revenues of $10 million to $49 million said they were extremely or very comfortable blockchain and crypto.

The businesses exploring these technologies and currencies have several reasons for doing so. Sixty-one percent of them have dedicated employees to understanding blockchain technology and cryptocurrency because they want to see how they can improve operational efficiency.

Four other reasons are cited by between 46% and 49% of the businesses that are exploring blockchain technology and cryptocurrency: fraud reduction, better data security, operational transformation and overall competitive position.