ECB Data Shows Crypto Stuck Below 1% While Mobile Payments Hit 68% Across Euro Area

Crypto payments are going nowhere fast in Europe. The European Central Bank put out a report showing crypto accounts for just 0.2% of online transactions across the euro area — and stays below 1% at physical stores. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a wall.

The ECB commissioned Ipsos to run the survey between February 23 and April 10, pulling responses from 8,205 businesses across 21 euro area countries. Retail, hospitality, entertainment — all covered. The numbers are pretty clear: merchants aren’t rushing to accept Bitcoin, Ether, or Tether’s USDt anytime soon. Cash, on the other hand, is accepted by 92% of businesses with physical sales points. Cards sit at 88%. Crypto doesn’t come close to either.

Mobile Payments Explode While Crypto Flatlines

Here’s the contrast that’s hard to ignore. Mobile payment acceptance at physical locations jumped from 36% in 2024 to 68% — a near-doubling in roughly two years. Apple Pay, Google Pay, instant payment rails — merchants are buying in fast. And crypto? Still stuck below 1%.

Not really a mystery why. When the ECB asked businesses what drives their payment method choices, 26% pointed to consumer preference. Security came in at 22%. Ease of handling at 15%. Crypto scores poorly on all three for most small merchants — it’s volatile, the tech can feel murky, and customer demand basically doesn’t exist at the checkout counter.

Bank checks are dying too, for what it’s worth. Acceptance dropped from 36% in 2024 down to 27%. Older payment habits are fading, but the beneficiaries are mobile wallets and contactless cards — not crypto.

Regional Gaps and a Regulatory Void

The regional picture is wild. In Cyprus, 51% of small and medium-sized enterprises that currently take cash say they might stop accepting it entirely. Greece sits at 23% considering the same. Bulgaria at 18%. Those are big gaps for countries that share a currency, and they probably say something about infrastructure, demographics, and local merchant culture all at once.

On the crypto side, the ECB’s survey included questions about crypto acceptance but didn’t nail down whether payments settled in traditional currency — after automatic conversion — should count as crypto acceptance. That’s a real gap. Some payment processors let customers pay in Bitcoin while the merchant receives euros on the back end. Whether those transactions show up in the 0.2% figure or get lost entirely is unclear. The ECB, when asked about potentially underreported crypto payments, didn’t speculate. Fair enough, but it leaves a hole in the data.

See also: White House Hosts Crypto Leaders Ahead of Key CFTC Meeting

And when it comes to regulation, the ECB was direct: it doesn’t regulate payment methods. Questions about whether euro area merchants are legally required to accept or refuse crypto under EU rules get kicked to the European Commission and national lawmakers. That’s probably part of the problem. Merchants facing regulatory uncertainty tend to default to whatever’s safest and most familiar. Cash wins that contest every time.

Digital Euro Looms, But Crypto Isn’t the Beneficiary

The ECB is actively working on a digital euro — a central bank digital currency meant to complement cash rather than replace it. The project has been in development for a while now, and the bank sees it as a way to modernize payments without abandoning the stability of sovereign currency. What it won’t do, at least based on current trajectory, is lift crypto adoption as a side effect.

The gap between the digital euro concept and actual crypto assets like Bitcoin or Ether is pretty fundamental. One is state-backed, stable, and designed for everyday transactions. The others are speculative assets that happen to have payment functionality bolted on. Merchants know the difference. So do consumers, apparently.

Businesses that reject cash cited low customer demand at 36% and difficulties depositing or withdrawing cash at 35%. Those are operational complaints. The reasons merchants aren’t taking crypto are different — it’s not that crypto is hard to deposit, it’s that almost nobody asks to pay with it.

See also: Macro Pressures Guide Crypto Moves in Fed Expectation Climate

The stablecoin angle is worth watching separately. USDt and similar assets have carved out real use cases in cross-border transfers and in markets where local currencies are unstable. But inside the euro area, where the euro is stable and mobile payments are booming, the value proposition just isn’t there for most merchants.

Card acceptance ticked up slightly to 88%. Cash held at 92%. Mobile payments nearly doubled. Crypto didn’t move.

Hub: Bitcoin price, news, and analysis