In five years, almost half of companies will have crypto on their corporate balance sheet
Amsterdam, 27 September 2022 – As many as a quarter of Dutch organisations (24%) are positive about the use of cryptocurrencies within business services in the near future. Currently, five percent of organisations use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, and another 42 percent say it is very likely that cryptocurrencies will be on the company balance sheet in five years’ time. This is according to the FinTech Barometer, Visma | Onguard’s survey on the financial status among Dutch companies, conducted for the fifth time this year.
Less impact from inflation named one of the biggest benefits
The survey shows that almost three quarters of finance professionals (72%) see advantages in using cryptocurrencies as a business payment method. Ten percent of finance professionals consider the fact that inflation has less impact to be the biggest advantage, because cryptocurrencies are decentralised and there is therefore no control from governments. One in five say it is a big advantage that these currencies offer some programmability, such as adding accounting rules and security measures to payments. Other advantages mentioned by finance professionals are the reduction in costs because the bank is no longer involved (18%), the easy way of making international payments (17%) and the enormous speed at which transactions can be made (16%).
Finance professionals certainly see something in this new way of paying, but they also have their concerns. Especially when it comes to the unstable value of cryptocurrencies (28%) and the fact that there is insufficient supervision by authorities such as the AFM and ECB (27%). Other concerns finance professionals have are the amount of ‘cowboys’ operating in the crypto market (23%), the lack of knowledge about security (19%) and the risk of fraud (14%). The image of cryptocurrencies may still need some upgrading: 13% question this method of payment because of its poor image.
Adriaan Kom, Managing Director at Visma | Onguard: “There has been a lot of buzz around cryptocurrencies in recent months. Although there are often negative stories circulating, we also see that there have been many developments in the technology behind cryptocurrencies and that more and more companies want to accept it as a payment method. What strikes me in the survey is that the advantages of crypto are also simultaneously seen as pitfalls by finance professionals. And that is understandable. After all, it is a completely different way of paying and there is a whole technology behind it: blockchain technology. And that promises a lot. Indeed, paying via blockchain and capturing agreements in smart contracts, can take a lot of work off the hands of finance professionals. In addition, everything is fully automated and controlled, greatly reducing the risk of fraud. Now it remains to be seen whether this potential will be exploited or whether too much negativity will linger around this payment method.”
