One in Five Larger UK SMEs Are Hearing Crypto Payment Requests
A new report from payment technology provider DECTA shows that UK SMEs crypto payments demand is rising fast, particularly among businesses with the highest turnovers. Security still tops merchant priorities, but cryptocurrency is moving steadily from a fringe idea into a real commercial conversation.
What the DECTA Survey Found
DECTA surveyed 500 UK SME decision-makers through research firm Censuswide between March 13 and March 20, 2026. Across all respondents, 11.8% said their customers want to pay with cryptocurrency. That figure sounds modest until you break it down by business size.
Among businesses turning over between £50 million and £99.99 million annually, that number climbs to 20.7%. So for the largest SMEs surveyed, roughly one in five is already hearing crypto payment requests from customers. That’s not a curiosity. That’s a signal.
Scott Dawson is the chief executive of DECTA and chairman of the Payments Innovation Forum. He noted that alternative payment methods are gaining traction with merchants across the UK.
UK SMEs Crypto Payments Ranked Against Other Priorities
Cryptocurrency didn’t top the list. When merchants ranked what their customers prioritise at checkout, security came first at 48.6%. Simplicity followed at 42.2%, with speed at 37.2%.
Crypto ranked eighth overall at 11.8%. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and open banking placed ahead of it. Still, the fact that UK SMEs crypto payments demand sits alongside these other emerging methods tells its own story about where business expectations are heading.
BNPL caught the attention of nearly 20% of respondents as a customer priority. Both BNPL and open banking, like crypto, drew the strongest interest from larger businesses with more international exposure.
UK SMEs Crypto Payments and Cross-Border Trade
More than half of the businesses surveyed, 53.8%, already sell products or services worldwide. That context matters a lot when weighing crypto payment options for merchants, since cross-border transactions are one area where cryptocurrency has a practical edge.
Yet the report also flagged genuine frustration with global trade. Around 20.2% of merchants in international sales said their cross-border payments experience has gotten worse recently. Slow access to funds was the top business challenge, cited by 19.4% of respondents. Fraud and security concerns followed at 16%, with fee transparency issues at 14.2%.
These friction points create a natural opening for alternative payment options that promise faster settlement and clearer costs. According to the Bank of Canada’s own payments research, stablecoins and digital assets are moving into practical payment use cases, particularly in cross-border contexts.
Security Is Still the Non-Negotiable
Whatever the enthusiasm for new payment types, the survey made one thing clear. Security isn’t optional for UK merchants. More than half of those surveyed, 51.8%, said they’d choose security over lower fees or access to newer payment technology.
Among micro-businesses with one to nine employees, that preference climbed to 62.1%. For payment providers pitching crypto or any other alternative method, building trust around security isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the entry requirement.
UK SMEs Crypto Payments and the Regulatory Clock
This data arrives at an interesting moment for UK crypto policy. The Financial Conduct Authority has confirmed that crypto firms can begin applying for authorisation from September 30, 2026. Full enforcement then arrives on October 25, 2027, after Parliament passed the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026 in February this year.
Any payment provider wanting to offer crypto at checkout needs to be well inside the authorisation process within months. As The Globe and Mail has explored in covering international digital currency developments, the window between merchant demand and regulatory clarity is one businesses can’t afford to ignore.
What UK SMEs Crypto Payments Mean for Providers
The DECTA findings carry a practical warning for companies serving UK merchant clients. Among the largest SME customers, ignoring crypto risks looking behind the curve. Pushing crypto without addressing security concerns is just as likely to backfire, though.
UK SMEs crypto payments interest is real and measurable. But it sits alongside concerns about fraud, fee transparency, and reliable access to funds. Payment providers who can address both sides of that picture are the ones who’ll build genuine merchant loyalty.
If you’re a UK merchant weighing whether to accept cryptocurrency from customers, or a payment provider deciding where to focus in 2026, the full DECTA whitepaper is worth your time. The FCA’s crypto roadmap sets out exactly what the regulatory path forward looks like for businesses aiming to get ahead of the October 2027 deadline.
