With the recent acceptance by PayPal, bitcoin is well on its way to a wider circulation. We conducted a survey to find out if small to midsize business and the public are ready for digital currency.

1. Software Advice IndustryView:
SMB Readiness for Bitcoin

2. Abstract
To gauge whether their companies were ready to accept and perform accounting
for digital currency, we surveyed SMB accountants and bookkeepers. Further, we
surveyed the public on whether they would use digital currency. We found that:
• Twenty-five percent of consumers were likely to use digital currency if it
becomes widely accepted, with 9 percent saying they currently use it.
• Of SMB representatives surveyed, half said they were ill-prepared for digital
payments, and half were “not at all prepared” for digital currency.
• The majority of small businesses (55 percent) were not confident their
accounting software could accommodate integration with digital currency.

3. Consumers Use PayPal More Than Online Bill Pay
PayPal
Bank’s online bill pay
E-commerce transactions
E-wallet
RFID keychain
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
The majority (55 percent) were not using any of the services listed. Of those
using digital payments, most used PayPal (cited by 28 percent of respondents).

4. ‘Core Cadre’ of Consumers Would Use Digital Currency
49% Not at all likely
18 % Minimally likely
13% Moderately likely
7% Very likely
5% Extremely likely
9% Currently using
Over one-third of respondents combined (34 percent) said they were either likely
to use digital currency if it became widely accepted, or were already using it.

5. SMBs Not Ready to Accept Digital Payments
33% Not at all prepared
17 % Minimally prepared
17% Moderately prepared
22% Very prepared
12% Ahead of the curve
Half of SMBs reported that their business was ill-prepared to accept digital
payments, such as those made through PayPal or a mobile payments platform.

6. Most SMBs Ill-Prepared to Accept Digital Currency
50% Not at all prepared
18 % Minimally prepared
13% Moderately prepared
10% Very prepared
9% Ahead of the curve
Fifty percent of SMBs said their business was “not at all prepared,” while 18
percent said they were only “minimally prepared.”

7. SMBs Not Prepared for Changes to Accounting, Business
Tax preparation
Financial reporting
Working with bitcoin-ready companies
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Ahead of the
curve
Not at all
prepared
While the majority were not prepared for changes to accounting, tax preparation
readiness seemed to be an outlier: 27 percent of SMBs were “very prepared.”

8. SMBs’ Confidence in Accounting Software Readiness
58% Not at all confident
12% Minimally confident
13% Moderately confident
11% Very confident
6% Extremely confident
Fifty-eight percent claimed to be “not at all confident” in their software’s ability to
accommodate digital currency, and 12 percent were just “minimally confident.”

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