Gartner: Large Companies Moving Toward Digital Currencies

Twenty percent of large organizations will use digital currencies for payments, stored value, or collateral by 2024, according to Gartner, Inc.

“Increasing mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies on traditional payment platforms and the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will push many large enterprises to incorporate digital currencies into their applications in the coming years,” said Avivah Litan, distinguished vice president analyst in the Gartner IT practice. “Digital currencies will be primarily used by these organizations for payment, a store of value and the ability to leverage high-yield investments available in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.”

Gartner recommends that organizations first clarify specific use cases for digital currencies before evaluating appropriate IT stacks to incorporate them within the enterprise. Each primary use case comes with a host of technological, regulatory, legal, and strategic considerations for both CFOs and applications leaders to assess, including selecting appropriate service providers and the ability to monitor and react to ongoing regulatory guidance.

“We have noticed an uptick in interest in digital currency and blockchain applications among CFOs since the start of [2021],” said Alexander Bant, chief of research in the Gartner Finance practice. “While volatility of cryptocurrencies remains a concern, anticipation of clearer regulatory guidance, and the advent of CBDCs, now offers CFOs more avenues to pressure-test use cases for digital currencies.”

Gartner’s prediction is partly driven by the healthy environment of service providers and off-the-shelf solutions available to large enterprises that have identified a specific use case for digital currencies.

“Among the primary use cases for digital currencies that we have identified, there will be no need for most organizations to develop a customized blockchain application stack,” said Litan. “Many large banks, payment platforms, institutional digital asset custodians and wallet providers have already done the heavy lifting in this area, which should provide large enterprises with a minimum of friction in deploying their own digital currency applications.”

“There has always been theoretical appeal in the use of blockchain and digital currencies for CFOs as a means to lower costs, increase transaction processing speed, reach new global customers, move toward continuous accounting and auditing, and create an error-free and fraud-free environment,” said Bant. “Now, with Congressional oversight starting to develop and the potential for more central banks to join China in launching a CBDC, we can see a path where the use of digital currencies will be potentially more predictable and stable in the future.”

Gartner clients can read more in: Predicts 2022: Prepare for Blockchain-Based Digital Disruption. Nonclients can learn more in: “Digital Future of Finance.”

Channel Impact^®
Over the next 12 months, corporate executives are likely to ramp up their knowledge on risks and rewards associated with digital assets, currencies, and other blockchain applications. This development will likely drive channel partners in similar directions.