SAN FRANCISCO – A new report contends that the adoption of blockchain-based global payments is reaching critical mass in 2018 as organizations worldwide look to incorporate digital assets into payments.

Ripple, a blockchain global network, released a report this week entitled Blockchain in Payments Report. The report is generating extensive discussion at the two-day Swell 2018 conference in San Francisco, where some of the world’s leading experts on policy, payments, and technology gathered.

“There’s a lot of money at stake,” said Cory Johnson, Chief Market Strategist at Ripple, after he outlined the report’s findings.

Indeed, there is. Data from The Boston Consulting Group puts the size of the global market for cross-border payments volume at $27 trillion. Another $20 trillion in growth may come from 2018 through 2026. When you combine this news with recent data from the World Bank suggesting global remittances alone will reach $642 billion this year, you can understand why the report is so bullish on blockchain’s growth potential.

“Globalization has steadily connected people, governments, and businesses worldwide,” a summary in the report reads. “It has created new ecosystems, such as the gig economy, and more evenly distributed wealth and opportunity across the globe. It has also reshaped expectations among consumers and businesses by creating a shared desire for immediate, reliable exchange of goods, information and value – no matter who or where you are in the world.”

Blockchain and digital assets offer a way to modernize today’s international payment rails and make sending money across borders as fast, easy, transparent and reliable as it is to move information, the report’s authors contend.

“The world is used to getting things, right now, on-demand,” Johnson said. “They aren’t waiting for anything. When we look at blockchain and the solutions it offers in cross-border payments, we have an opportunity to address their needs.”

However, the report also begs these questions: When is blockchain going to be mainstream? How close are we to the tipping point? What is the outlook on digital asset use for settlement?

Ripple surveyed 700 global payments professionals across industries and in 22 countries around the world who answered questions to gauge where we are in blockchain adoption, interest in digital assets and general understanding about the benefits of this new technology.

The report’s authors opined that a tipping point was approaching, driven by the respondents’ motivation to change the way money moves across borders today.

Key Report Highlights

This year blockchain moves from experiments to production:

18 percent of respondents are in production or near production for the payments use case.

The tipping point for mass adoption of blockchain is fast approaching:

45 percent of those surveyed said they are already in production, piloting or close to signing with a blockchain provider.



Use of digital assets in payments are experiencing breakthrough interest:

75 percent of respondents state they are extremely or very interested in using a digital asset as a settlement or a base currency.

Growing blockchain connectivity facilitates digital asset adoption:

85 percent of those using blockchain in production and 90 percent of those quickly moving to production are either extremely or very interested in using digital assets as a form of payment.

Ripple’s full report Blockchain Adoption: The Tipping Point is Near is at the link.