Over 50% of Saudi, UAE Youth Able to Pay in Crypto in Coming 12 Months

Checkout.com, an international financial technology company, issued the second part of its report about digital transformation in the MENA region in 2022.

The report drew on year-over-year data from 15,500 consumers, since 2020, in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, and Pakistan.

According to the report, 55% of 18-35-year-olds, who are living in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, would like to be able to pay for goods and services in crypto or stablecoins in the next 12 months. The report mentioned that 38% of 18-35-year-olds, who are living in the two countries, have held digital assets such as crypto, stablecoins and NFTs.

Nearly 40% (39%) of them accept that their salaries could be paid in cryptocurrencies. While over 50% (52%) of 18-35-year-olds would like to be paid some or all of their salary in stablecoins.

The report showed that 25% of the local merchants plan to offer crypto as a payment method by 2024. These figures were calculated from 4,000 consumers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE surveyed in February 2022.

In this regard, Head of Crypto & Digital Assets Checkout.com Max Rothman said the UAE and Saudi Arabia pave a path to becoming vitally
important leaders in crypto adoption, regulation, and innovation in light of their adoption and regulation of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets.

Rothman described the level of engagement of the 18-35-year-olds in the two countries as hardly surprising. “Some 54% of consumers we surveyed in the region believe that on-chain payments will make transactions significantly faster, and 49% believe transactions on-chain will be significantly safer. Meanwhile, 80% of merchant businesses in the region see faster payments as a significant benefit of crypto or stablecoin transactions,” he added.

He asserted that trust in digital payments and fintech seems to be seeing a steady increase.