A quarter of small businesses in nine countries plan to adopt digital currencies as a form of payment by 2022, while 13% of consumers in those countries say retail stores will begin offering cryptocurrency payments starting this year, according to a Visa survey.

A survey of 2,250 small business owners in the United States, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, Russia, Singapore and Canada suggests that cryptocurrencies may be becoming more popular as a means of payment.

Visa interviewed 1,000 seniors in the United States, along with 500 people from nine countries.

I think more people are more confident in cryptocurrencies, ”said Jenny Mund, head of visa’s Merchant Sales and Acquisition.

Despite the growing popularity among professional and retail investors, cryptocurrencies are not widely used to pay for goods and services because of their frequent fluctuations in value.

On Monday, Bitcoin fell more than 5% to below the $ 40,000 level for the first time since September.

Small businesses outside of North America are more open to accepting digital currencies as a form of payment.

Visa found that 30% of small businesses in the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brazil are offering customers the option of paying with cryptocurrencies in the coming months, up from 19% in the United States and just 8% in Canada.

Nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed around the world reported that accepting new payments is critical to business growth. Mund said for many small companies adopting new forms of digital payments, the adoption of cryptocurrencies is a natural evolution.