{"id":14993,"date":"2021-05-26T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T16:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/2021\/05\/26\/rising-expectation-of-cashless-societies-worldwide-a-second-annual-report-by-the-economist-intelligence-unit-eiu-shows-growing-acceptance-of-digital-currencies-accelerated-by-co\/"},"modified":"2021-05-26T16:01:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T16:01:00","slug":"rising-expectation-of-cashless-societies-worldwide-a-second-annual-report-by-the-economist-intelligence-unit-eiu-shows-growing-acceptance-of-digital-currencies-accelerated-by-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/2021\/05\/26\/rising-expectation-of-cashless-societies-worldwide-a-second-annual-report-by-the-economist-intelligence-unit-eiu-shows-growing-acceptance-of-digital-currencies-accelerated-by-co\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising expectation of \u2018cashless\u2019 societies worldwide: a second annual report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), shows growing acceptance of digital currencies, accelerated by covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\"><!--<a class=\"format-txt\" href=\"{baseURL}\/View\/{release.id}?_download=1\">View this article in .txt format<\/a>--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Consumers are increasingly adopting cashless<br \/>\npayment methods while governments are stepping up planning or piloting of<br \/>\ncentral bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and companies are experimenting with<br \/>\naccepting open-source digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, for treasury or<br \/>\nportfolio allocation.<\/li>\n<li>A cashless trend was already strong,<br \/>\naccording to the previous year&#8217;s research but in 2021, covid-19 prompted more<br \/>\nmovement away from physical cash. In 2020, only about 72% of respondents said<br \/>\nthat their country was likely to become a cashless society; that grew to over<br \/>\n81% this year. Meanwhile, the percent of respondents believing their country<br \/>\nwould never become cashless, saw a stark drop from 28% to 19%.<\/li>\n<li>While transaction settlement is a main<br \/>\nfunction of any currency, digital or otherwise, the institutional investor and<br \/>\ncorporate treasurer respondents in the EIU research appear to be using digital<br \/>\ncurrencies more as a store of value with a deflationary hedge than purely as a<br \/>\nsettlement option.<\/li>\n<li>About 76% of corporate treasury and<br \/>\ninstitutional investor executives say covid-19 accelerated demand for, and<br \/>\nadoption of, digital currencies.<\/li>\n<li>The concept of a digital currency playing a<br \/>\nrole as a &#8220;digital gold&#8221; asset in corporate treasuries or institutional<br \/>\ninvestor portfolios is gaining acceptance among executives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\nHONG<br \/>\nKONG SAR &#8211;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.media-outreach.com\/\">Media<br \/>\nOutReach<\/a>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a027 May 2021 &#8211;\u00a0In 2020, the Economist<br \/>\nIntelligence Unit conducted a survey to measure the relative acceptance of<br \/>\ndigital currencies and other digital payment methods, finding that a cashless<br \/>\ntrend was strong with consumers globally. In February and March of 2021, a new<br \/>\nsurvey set out to gauge how sentiment has changed in the past year. Results<br \/>\nfrom this year indicate favour for both digital transactions and currencies has<br \/>\nrisen further. <\/p>\n<p>Over<br \/>\nthe past 12 months, 27% of survey respondents report that they always (as close<br \/>\nto 100% of purchases as possible) use digital payments instead of physical<br \/>\nbanknotes, coins or credit cards versus 22% in the previous year&#8217;s study.<br \/>\nExamining the metric from the opposite angle\u2014those reporting only very rare use<br \/>\nof digital payment options\u2014the rate declined from 14% to 12%, indicating a<br \/>\nshrinking holdout for physical cash. Further details on comparative annual<br \/>\nresults, along with the 2020 survey, can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalcurrency.economist.com\/?utm_source=PR&amp;utm_medium=MO&amp;utm_campaign=crypto&amp;utm_content=report\"><i>Digimentality 2021<\/i><\/a>, commissioned by crypto.com.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>While<br \/>\nthere are a variety of ways people can transact digitally\u2014including smartphone<br \/>\napps or digital currencies\u2014the most common form of digital currency consumers<br \/>\nrecognise is the open-source variety, typically called a cryptocurrency\u2014such as<br \/>\nBitcoin. Cryptocurrencies remain the most commonly known form of digital<br \/>\ncurrency options; more than half (55%) of consumers in the 2021 survey say they<br \/>\nare aware of them even if they have never owned or used one. Despite increased<br \/>\nmedia coverage of CBDCs recently, it was still the least recognized form of<br \/>\ndigital currency.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\ncovid-19 crisis has contributed to digital currency awareness, with about half<br \/>\nof the consumer respondents agreeing that the pandemic has heightened the use<br \/>\ncase for a cryptocurrency.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\npandemic had an even more marked influence on institutional and corporate executives,<br \/>\nwho were tested in a supplementary survey during the same time period; about<br \/>\n76% of executives say covid-19 has accelerated demand for and adoption of<br \/>\ndigital currencies.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>The<br \/>\nexecutive survey had deeper questions on how digital currencies play a role in<br \/>\neither corporate treasuries or institutional investor portfolios. While a<br \/>\nmajority of respondents classified a digital currency as something that should<br \/>\nbe used primarily for transactional purposes (ie settling payments), the most<br \/>\ncommon commercial uses presently appear to be for capital appreciation and<br \/>\nasset diversification.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>A<br \/>\nkey finding in the report, which includes interviews with Henri Arslanian,<br \/>\nPwC&#8217;s crypto lead, and Mathew McDermott, managing director and global head of<br \/>\ndigital assets for Goldman Sachs, is corporate and institutional support for<br \/>\nthe concept of a digital currency playing a role similar to gold in a<br \/>\nportfolio. As a notional &#8220;digital gold&#8221;, cryptocurrencies can hold similar<br \/>\npatterns in terms of limited supply, being authenticatable and dividable, and<br \/>\nproviding a level of diversity in asset allocation and value storage. However,<br \/>\nregulatory, trust and technological-understanding concerns linger.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jason<br \/>\nWincuinas, the Economist Intelligence Unit editor who spearheaded the report<br \/>\nsaid: &#8220;Money is rapidly evolving. Only a few years ago there seemed to be very<br \/>\nlittle commercial or popular support for even the idea of a digital currency<br \/>\nand within the past year, we&#8217;ve seen several governments announce new plans to<br \/>\ncreate digital versions of their currencies. It&#8217;s like a new space race on that<br \/>\nlevel. At the same time, we&#8217;ve seen interest and trust in cryptocurrencies grow<br \/>\namong consumers. Now that we&#8217;ve added perspective from some of money&#8217;s heaviest<br \/>\nusers\u2014corporate treasuries and institutional investors\u2014we have a more<br \/>\ncomprehensive view of how digital currencies might evolve. Sentiment on the<br \/>\ninstitutional side of the scale already seems much higher than expected.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>More<br \/>\ndetail on how institutional investors and corporate treasurers use or expect to<br \/>\nuse different forms of digital currencies can be found in the full report, as<br \/>\nwell as year-over-year comparisons on consumer sentiment. <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>Visit <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalcurrency.economist.com\/?utm_source=PR&amp;utm_medium=MO&amp;utm_campaign=crypto&amp;utm_content=report\"><b>digitalcurrency.economist.com<\/b><\/a><b> for the full<br \/>\nreport.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.media-outreach.com\/news\/2021-05-27\/79114\/rising-expectation-of-cashless-societies-worldwide-a-second-annual-report-by-the-economist-intelligence-unit-eiu-shows-growing-acceptance-of-digital-currencies-accelerated-by-co\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consumers are increasingly adopting cashless payment methods while governments are stepping up planning or piloting of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and companies are experimenting with accepting open-source digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, for treasury or portfolio allocation. A cashless trend was already strong, according to the previous year&#8217;s research but in 2021, covid-19 prompted &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eodishasamachar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}