A survey by one of the big four accounting firms found the financial professionals expect bitcoin and crypto to rival or replace fiat in the next ten years.
In brief
- Most finance professionals believe that blockchain has potential usage in their businesses.
- Obstacles such as old infrastructure, an inadequate regulatory approach and cybersecurity risks are among the threats to the space.
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Deloitte’s annual blockchain survey found that 76% of financial experts believe that digital assets will “serve as a strong alternative to, or outright replacement for, fiat currencies in the next 5–10 years.”
Being one of the “big four” accounting firms in the world along with KPMG, EY and PwC; Deloitte yearly survey is widely regarded as a prestigious forecast in among traditional financial circles (though that prestige is debatable in crypto). In 2021, the survey is the first one to explicitly cover the commercial activities enabled through blockchain applications.
The firm surveyed over 1,000 professionals based in Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The survey was conducted between March 24th and April 10th, just before bitcoin plunged by over 50%.
Eighty-one percent of respondents agreed that the technology is “broadly scalable and has achieved mainstream adoption.” Seventy-three percent thought that their business should adopt blockchain and digital assets, and would lose a competitive advantage if they do not adopt the technology.
Sixty-five percent of finance professionals considered current financial infrastructure is among the greatest obstacle to accepting digital assets. Sixty-three percent thought cybersecurity is another barrier, and 60% saw regulatory obstacles as being a major obstacle.
The concerns are not new given that legal frameworks and technical infrastructure is always outpaced by innovations in the nascent technology. While cybersecurity breaches have reduced dramatically in recognised exchanges, new security threats and breaches emerge every other week.
But despite the challenges, crypto is very appealing to financial professionals. When it came to the question of how crypto would be deployed, 43% of respondents said their businesses may eventually adopt crypto as a payment option, and 45% would tokenize their assets. 44% said crytpo would allow their institution to access decentrlaised finance (DeFi), a suite of non-custodial financial applications and protocols used by crypto holders.
The one caveat is whether these professionals answered the way they did simply because the market was booming. Would they have changed their tune when bitcoin was threatening to fall below $28,000?
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