Crypto at Checkout: 34% of US Consumers Eye Digital Assets for Holiday Shopping

New research indicates that 34% of U.S. consumers are likely to use cryptocurrency for holiday shopping this season if the option is available at checkout. For fintech professionals, this shift highlights a growing demand for embedded payment infrastructure that can bridge the gap between digital assets and traditional consumer protections.

What was announced

NMI’s latest research into consumer payment preferences reveals a significant appetite for digital assets in the retail environment. According to the study, 34% of U.S. consumers surveyed expressed a likelihood to use cryptocurrency—defined here as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins—for their holiday purchases this year. This interest extends beyond the festive season, with 33% of respondents stating they would likely use crypto at a familiar retailer within the next 12 months.

The data suggests that offering cryptocurrency can influence merchant selection. When comparing two retailers with identical products and pricing, 30% of consumers would prefer the one accepting crypto, while 35% said it would make no difference. This sentiment is particularly strong among younger demographics; 49% of Gen Z and 44% of Millennials would favor a crypto-accepting merchant, contrasted with just 25% of Gen X and 9% of Baby Boomers. Furthermore, 42% of all respondents believe that offering newer payment methods like cryptocurrency makes a business appear more innovative.

However, this adoption is contingent on several functional requirements. Transparency is a primary concern, with 62% of consumers demanding to know the exact U.S. dollar cost, including all fees, before completing a transaction. Security and reliability also remain hurdles; 52% of participants want clear protections for when things go wrong, and 51% would be more comfortable if refund processes mirrored those of credit or debit cards. Currently, the biggest barriers to usage are concerns over fraud or scams (34%), a lack of understanding of the technology (30%), and price volatility (27%).

"Consumers are telling us crypto has a place at the holiday checkout, but their interest is conditional. They aren’t asking retailers to reinvent how they pay. They want crypto to offer the things they already expect from payments: clear pricing, simple refunds and confidence that if something goes wrong, it can be made right. Trust will be what turns interest into actual transactions."

Tiffany Johnson, Chief Product Officer at NMI.

The companies involved

NMI is a global leader in embedded payments infrastructure, providing the underlying technology that allows software platforms, independent sales organizations (ISOs), and merchants to process transactions. The company functions as a critical link in the payments value chain, offering white-label solutions that enable businesses to maintain their own branding while leveraging NMI’s processing power. By focusing on the "plumbing" of the industry, NMI facilitates a wide variety of payment types across both physical and digital channels.

The company is a portfolio firm of Francisco Partners, a major global private equity firm that specializes in investments in technology and technology-enabled businesses. This backing has allowed NMI to maintain a significant presence in the merchant services market, competing by offering high levels of flexibility and scalability. NMI’s role has evolved from a standard payment gateway into a comprehensive provider of embedded finance, helping partners integrate complex payment workflows directly into their software ecosystems. This positioning allows them to observe and react to broad shifts in consumer behavior, such as the move toward digital assets and alternative payment methods.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed NMI’s strategic moves to diversify its service offerings and capture new market segments. Recently, the company expanded its financial services by introducing new term loans for small business growth through its Business Capital arm. On the technical side, NMI launched low-code embeddable components, a move designed to simplify the integration of branded payments for software platforms. The firm also made a significant push into physical retail hardware by entering the smart terminal market with an Ingenico-powered SmartPOS solution. Previous research from the firm has also touched on the intersection of technology and consumer trust, noting that 70% of consumers demand final say over AI-driven purchases, a finding that aligns with the current demand for transparency in crypto transactions.

What this means

The transition of cryptocurrency from a speculative investment to a viable retail payment method is reaching a critical inflection point. While the technical infrastructure to support these transactions exists, the "trust gap" remains the primary obstacle for mainstream adoption. Consumers are no longer satisfied with the mere novelty of paying with Bitcoin; they are demanding the same institutional safeguards—such as chargebacks, clear fee structures, and familiar refund logic—that have defined the credit card era. For the broader fintech industry, the challenge is to commoditize the crypto experience, stripping away the complexity of the blockchain to provide a user interface that feels indistinguishable from traditional fiat payments.