Deutsche Bank: Dollar Will Withstand the Cryptocurrency Wave

Deutsche Bank has revealed in a recent report that while digital payments will remain popular over the next decade, they will not be able to dethrone cash.

The report, which was titled, “The Future of Payments Part 1,” showed the results of a survey conducted by the German investment banking giant. In the survey, the bank took responses from 3,600 of its customers across several major economies- including China, Germans, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The survey was aimed at exploring growing trends in cash, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, mobile, and online payments. 

The Nascent Nature of Digital Currencies 

Among the clients, 33 percent considered cash to be still their preferred means of making payments, including 69 percent of respondents from the United States. Under a section titled “The Future of Cryptocurrencies,” the report concluded that since cryptocurrencies are still in their earliest stages of adoption, there is still a lot of potentials for them to continue growing across the world as a means of payment. 

It also touched on some of the progress that has already been made in terms of cryptocurrency adoption in the country, including the emergence of crypto payments in retail stores. “Although the number of stores is small, the growth trend is noticeable among online travel booking platforms such as CheapAir, and through retailers such as Newegg and the telecommunications company AT&T.”

While the bank doesn’t see cryptocurrencies becoming the major payment method applied all over the world in the next decade, it did express confidence that the crypto sector will continue to grow. 

“If the growth in blockchain wallet users continues to mirror that of internet users, then by the end of the decade, they will number 200 million, quadruple the current level. This will be encouraged by governments, banks, corporations, and payment providers who all stand to benefit from the digitization of payments.”

Digital Currencies are Impressive, But Can it Dethrone the Dollar

The results of the report echo a statement made by Gita Gopinath, the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), earlier this month. As previously reported on Inside Bitcoins, Gopinath spoke on the rise in prominence of cryptocurrencies across the world, adding that while digital assets are undoubtedly “intriguing,” they won’t be dethroning the dollar anytime soon.

In her piece, Gopinath pointed out that the dollar has been able to dominate global fiats and emerge as the world’s reserve currency due to its prominence in banking and trade transactions all over the world. This, as he explained, has led to both an increased reliance of economies on the dollar and a surge in its utility. 

She also compared digital currencies to the Euro- a currency that was created to challenge the status of the dollar but which has so far been unable to do so. As she put it, the Euro has suffered from various complexities, most of which are now extending to the digital currency field as well. 

When this is combined with increased regulatory scrutiny and the pedigree that the dollar has, she expressed her belief that the greenback will continue to dominate