JWT Intelligence, a department of the JWT marketing brand, has released a report titled "The Future of Payments & Currency" in which they discuss the latest payment trends and what they see as the case against cash and physical cards. The 62 page report, which focuses on payment methods other than just Bitcoin, also includes reports on mobile, wearable and biometric payments. Produced by by Deborah Baxley1, Rob Girling2, Craig Erickson3 and Bill Maurer4, the report claims to be the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted throughout 2014.
A survey conducted of 500 Americans and 500 Britons revealed some of the following information:
- 1% of people aged 35-65+ and 7% of people aged 18-34 have used a virtual currency such as Bitcoin to make a payment.
- 49% of American and British adults are very concerned about fraud when using a virtual currency such as Bitcoin yet only 22% share the same concern when using Paypal.
- 38% of Millennials, 17% of Generation X and 7% of Boomers are interested in using Bitcoin
- Generation X is less likely than Boomers and Millennials to think that Bitcoin is a fad.
- Given the option, Millennials would prefer to pay for a drink or food with a photo of themselves enjoying the product or by posting about it to social media. Given the same choice, Boomers are significantly less likely to want to do so.
The report also confirms that many companies are accepting bitcoin payments as a means to garner media attention.
"From the point of view of a brand, saying you accept bitcoin instantly gets you a media hit, instantly gives you a sheen of being tech-savvy, cutting-edge and maybe just a little dangerous, but in a hip way. … But you want to use a third-party service to help you do it.”
The full report can be download here as a PDF.
"Given the option, Millennials would prefer to pay for a drink or food with a photo of themselves enjoying the product or by posting about it to social media."
What in the ever-loving fuck?!