34% of surveyed U.S. adults would likely use cryptocurrency for holiday purchases if retailers accepted it. Gen Z shows the strongest preference for crypto-friendly retailers, although consum
Cryptocurrency could attract more holiday shoppers in 2026, but a new consumer survey reveals a gap between enthusiasm for digital assets and the practical requirements of paying with them.
Research published by payments infrastructure provider NMI on November 11 found that 34% of U.S. adults surveyed would likely use cryptocurrency for holiday purchases if retailers offered the option.
The findings create a potential opportunity for merchants, particularly those targeting younger consumers. Whether accepting crypto improves profitability, however, depends on transaction costs, settlement arrangements and customer behavior.
NMI’s 2026 Crypto at Checkout Survey questioned 3,001 U.S. adults in October, including 602 existing cryptocurrency owners.
When comparing otherwise identical retailers, 30% of respondents preferred the business accepting cryptocurrency, while 26% favored the alternative.
That four-percentage-point difference suggests acceptance could influence retailer selection without necessarily becoming the customer’s preferred payment method.
The generational divide was considerably larger.
Among Gen Z respondents, 49% favored crypto-accepting retailers, followed by 44% of Millennials, 25% of Gen X and 9% of Baby Boomers.
For younger audiences, digital asset acceptance may therefore have marketing value beyond the transactions it directly processes.
However, the survey measures stated preferences rather than observed purchases. It cannot establish whether crypto availability increases conversion rates, order values or customer retention.
Existing cryptocurrency holders expressed stronger preferences for familiar checkout features than the overall survey population.
Among owners, 76% wanted the exact dollar cost, including fees, disclosed before payment. Another 72% valued straightforward refunds, while 74% preferred transactions handled by a familiar provider.
The corresponding figures across the full sample were 62%, 51% and 50%.
These differences suggest that owning digital assets does not necessarily make consumers more comfortable with complex payment procedures.
NMI Chief Product Officer Tiffany Johnson emphasized the importance of familiar payment experiences in the company’s announcement.
Security concerns reinforce that finding.
Fraud and scams ranked as the leading concern among respondents at 34%, followed by uncertainty about how cryptocurrency payments work at 30% and price volatility at 27%.
Stablecoins can reduce exposure to exchange-rate fluctuations, but they do not independently reproduce the dispute-resolution mechanisms associated with card networks.
A hypothetical $100 purchase illustrates why lower blockchain transaction costs do not automatically translate into better merchant economics.
Assume a conventional card processor charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. The merchant pays $3.20 and receives $96.80 before other operating expenses.
At an illustrative 1% cryptocurrency processing fee, the merchant instead pays $1.00 and retains $99.00 before network charges, conversion costs and other applicable expenses.
The difference is $2.20 per purchase.
Across 10,000 transactions of the same value, that would represent $22,000 in potential processing savings before additional costs.
However, those savings disappear if the cryptocurrency payment arrangement introduces equivalent expenses through conversion, compliance, refunds or customer support.
The rates are hypothetical and do not represent verified pricing from any specific provider.
Merchants therefore need to compare total payment acceptance costs rather than advertised transaction fees alone.
Retailers have several ways to structurecryptocurrency payments without assuming the same financial exposure.
Automatic fiat conversion allows a payment processor to receive cryptocurrency and settle the merchant’s proceeds in conventional currency. This can reduce direct exposure to token-price movements, subject to conversion timing and provider terms.
Stablecoin settlement limits exposure to the price fluctuations associated with assets such as Bitcoin, although merchants must still evaluate redemption, issuer and network risks.
Direct cryptocurrency settlement gives merchants custody or control of the received assets but introduces treasury-management responsibilities and potentially greater accounting complexity.
Three established providers illustrate the available approaches:
Before selecting a provider, merchants should establish whether checkout prices are fixed in dollars, who bears exchange-rate movements and how refunds are calculated.
For example, returning the original Bitcoin quantity after a price increase could cost substantially more than refunding the original dollar purchase amount.
That distinction should appear in the retailer’s refund policy before customers complete transactions.
NMI’s findings capture consumer intentions, not completed cryptocurrency purchases.
The research does not disclose transaction-level adoption, merchant conversion rates or the share of holiday spending conducted through digital assets.
It also groups Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins within the broader cryptocurrency category, despite their different settlement and volatility characteristics.
Those limitations prevent a reliable estimate of how much holiday spending could migrate from cards, digital wallets or other payment methods.
For merchants considering a rollout, a limited pilot would provide more useful evidence than consumer sentiment alone.
Tracking incremental sales, effective processing costs, settlement delays and refund expenses would establish whether cryptocurrency acceptance improves commercial performance.
The strongest business case will emerge where measurable customer demand exceeds the additional cost of supporting the payment method.
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