Acceptance Factors for Cryptocurrencies as Payment Systems

Abstract

The adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies is an active field of research in information systems, looking at the promise and issues hampering the arrival of cryptocurrencies as a general means of payment. However, an overwhelming number of papers only look at existing users and usually limit themselves to a single cryptocurrency, mostly Bitcoin. This paper adds to the body of research by creating a taxonomy of features for cryptocurrencies as payment systems, and conducting a user study with over 500 participants asking what features are most relevant for the adoption of a cryptocurrency. We identify cost-effectiveness and data confidentiality as crucial for potential users, but also find that these two factors are followed by a wealth of convenience features that have found less emphasis in present cryptocurrency implementations.