“I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.” And, “The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.” Oscar Wilde
With these caveats, I pass along some excerpts from a study of crypto summarized in a Banking Dive article this week:
- Even as cryptocurrencies repeatedly make headlines and lawmakers debate bills intended to spur the use of the digital assets, the use of crypto for payments appears to have been on a decline over the past three years, according to a survey last month from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
- A vanishingly small proportion of U.S. consumers (1.9%) used crypto to pay for something in 2024, and that small figure is lower than it was three years ago, the Kansas City Fed found.
- Additionally, merchants who accept payments, rather than consumers, seem to be driving even that limited use of the digital assets, according to the survey.
The full Kansas Fed analysis, dated September 24, 2025, can be read here. (link)
Several conclusions pointed out in the Banking Dive summary:
The share of U.S. consumers who report using cryptocurrency for payments—purchases, money transfers, or both—has been very small and has declined slightly in recent years.[1] The light blue line in Chart 1 shows that this share declined from nearly 3 percent in 2021 and 2022 to less than 2 percent in 2023 and 2024.[
There is much consumer data about who uses crypto in the Fed study. The authors’ observation on crypto’s future as a source for payments:
Moreover, consumers’ main reason for paying with cryptocurrency has shifted from the benefits of cryptocurrency relative to alternative payment methods (such as privacy, speed, cost, and safety) to the payee’s preference for receiving money with cryptocurrency, suggesting consumers’ use of cryptocurrency for payments has become more passive in recent years. Whether and how the evolving regulatory landscape around crypto assets in general and stablecoins in particular could facilitate consumer adoption of stablecoins for payments remains to be seen.