Visa: 25% of Latin Americans Want to Pay With Cryptocurrencies

In brief

• Many Latin American users expect to use cryptocurrency for payments.
• Cryptocurrency is increasingly popular in South American countries.

Latin Americans want cryptocurrencies, and not just as hedges for inflation or savings. They want to be able to spend them, too.

A recent Visa survey shared with Brazilian media revealed that 25% of all credit card users in Latin America would like to experiment with cryptocurrencies if payment processors gave them the opportunity to do so.

The third Visa COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment survey sought to assess consumer trends during the lockdown. The survey data revealed that 78% of consumers expect to use new payment technologies in the future—including cryptocurrencies.

The majority of users (58%) expect to make payments through social networks (like WhatsApp Pay or WeChat Pay). Many (42%) also expect biometric payments—transactions authenticated via fingerprints, retinas, or facial recognition.

Cryptocurrencies ranked third in order of importance, with 25% of users eager to use the technology. Digital assets beat other technologies, such as the Internet of Things with 22% and virtual/augmented reality with 10%.

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