It might sound counterintuitive, but the least tech-friendly consumers are the ones most likely to use cryptocurrency for payments.
Released in October, PYMNTS’ report, “Shopping With Cryptocurrency: Tech-Driven Consumers Drive Market Acceptance,” divided consumers into three groups: Basic-Tech; Mainstream; and Tech-Driven.
The report, a collaboration with BitPay, then asked about the main reason they have or would like to buy crypto.
Thirty-nine percent of the Basic-Tech respondents, who have fewer and simpler high-tech items than most, said “transactional reasons” — payments — were their main motivator.
They were also the least likely to buy crypto as an investment, with 36% choosing that answer. More than 52% of mainstream consumers chose investment, as did 42% of the Tech-Driven consumers.
Fear of missing out was the final, and least popular reason overall, with Tech-Driven consumers — those who own or use not only smartphones and laptops, but also wearables, connected cars, voice assistants and more — favoring it the most with 20%. That makes a fair bit of sense, as the most gadget-friendly consumers would be more likely to pay more attention to crypto and have the higher incomes to indulge those desires.
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The mainstream consumers were by far the least interested in paying for goods and services with crypto. With just 26% favoring payments, the mainstream group was twice as interested in buying crypto as an investment — a far larger gap than the tech-friendly. The tech-averse were 3% more interested in payments than investments.
