For businesses, settlement arrangements, transaction costs and security responsibilities matter just as much as technical availability. These are practical questions for payment infrastructure providers such as Coinspaid Solutions, as well as the merchants and financial institutions they serve.
The gap between accepting crypto and generating consistent payment activity was the focus of a main-stage presentation by Pavel Kashuba, Strategic Leader at Coinspaid Solutions, at Stablecon USA 2026 in Washington, D.C.
His session, “Four in Ten American Businesses Take Crypto. Most of Their Customers Never Notice,” placed payment design at the center of the adoption debate. Kashuba argued that availability alone provides a limited measure of success. Real adoption appears in completed transactions and repeat customer behaviour.
What the adoption figures reveal
A January 2026 report from the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA) and PayPal, based on a Harris Poll survey, found that 39% of surveyed U.S. merchants accepted cryptocurrency at checkout. Among businesses already accepting crypto, respondents reported that it accounted for 26% of total sales. The Harris Poll surveyed 619 U.S. merchant payment decision-makers in October 2025 across retail, e-commerce, hospitality, travel, luxury and digital goods.
A separate 2026 NCA survey of 10,000 U.S. crypto holders found that 40% reported using cryptocurrency to shop for goods and services. Applied to the association’s estimate of 67 million American crypto holders, that suggests approximately 26.8 million people.
Kashuba placed these figures within the wider stablecoin economy.
A February 2026 analysis by McKinsey and Artemis Analytics examined stablecoin activity across different payment use cases, including business transactions, remittances and consumer spending. While reported annual stablecoin transaction volumes reached as much as $35 trillion, the analysis estimated actual payments at an annualised $390 billion, based on December 2025 activity.
The figures highlight the gap between the scale of stablecoin activity and its use for real-world payments. Much of the broader volume involves trading, transfers between accounts and automated blockchain operations.
The distinction highlights a broader challenge: transaction volumes and merchant acceptance rates alone cannot establish whether crypto is becoming a convenient, regularly used payment option.
Four decisions shape the payment experience
Kashuba organised the challenge around four operational decisions.
Placement determines whether customers see the crypto option at checkout. Currency and network coverage influence transaction cost and processing time. Settlement design governs when merchants receive funds and the form in which they arrive.
Custody refers to the arrangements for holding digital assets and controlling the private keys used to authorise transactions. The choice of custody model determines who has control over funds and how operational and security responsibilities are divided.
For banks, payment service providers (PSPs), which help businesses accept and manage electronic payments, and acquirers, which process card transactions on behalf of merchants, these decisions influence both the customer experience and the complexity of operating a crypto payment service.
Each decision also involves trade-offs. Supporting more cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks may give customers greater flexibility, but can increase integration costs, monitoring requirements and operational complexity. Network fees, confirmation times and wallet compatibility can influence whether a customer completes a purchase or abandons it.
Checkout visibility is another consideration. An option that is difficult to find may receive little use, while concerns about volatility, unfamiliar payment processes or the risk of sending funds to the wrong address can discourage customers even when crypto is prominently displayed. Businesses therefore need to measure completed payments, failed transactions and repeat usage rather than relying on availability alone.
Settlement and custody define the operating model
One of the main decisions for merchants is whether to retain cryptocurrency after receiving a payment or convert it into conventional currency, such as U.S. dollars or euros.
A CoinGate report for the first half of 2026 illustrates the role of fiat settlement. Of the 782,403 crypto orders processed on its platform, 75.4% were settled in fiat currency.
Automatic conversion can help merchants avoid holding volatile digital assets on their balance sheets and simplify accounting. However, it can also introduce conversion costs, reliance on external providers and additional steps before funds reach a bank account. Settlement arrangements depend on the provider, its banking relationships and the regulations applicable in each jurisdiction.
Blockchain transfers operate outside the card chargeback mechanism, while refunds remain a separate merchant-controlled process.
Merchants remain responsible for meeting applicable consumer-protection requirements and establishing clear procedures for refunds, mistaken payments and customer complaints, particularly where a blockchain transaction cannot be reversed.
Custody carries a wider set of operational consequences. “The choice depends on how much control your business wants and how much infrastructure it can manage,” Kashuba said.
One example is the infrastructure model described by Coinspaid Solutions. Under its Coinspaid Console offering, financial institutions and other businesses can operate digital asset infrastructure within their own environments while retaining control of wallets and transaction-signing keys. Coinspaid supplies the supporting technology and blockchain connectivity.
Such arrangements illustrate how institutions can maintain control of digital assets while relying on external technology providers. Institutions remain responsible for third-party oversight, security controls and regulatory compliance. The appropriate balance depends on the organisation’s resources, operating model and jurisdiction.
How AI-assisted shopping affects payments
Kashuba also considered how these operational questions might apply to agentic payments, where software systems can initiate or execute transactions within instructions and limits set by users or businesses.
Developments in AI-assisted commerce illustrate different levels of automation. Amazon’s Buy for Me feature can complete purchases from selected external retailers after a customer initiates the process. Google’s shopper-controlled Universal Cart, launched in October 2026 after the Stablecon conference, helps users organise products from multiple retailers and manage checkout themselves.
Blockchain-based payment protocols are being explored separately. In a June 3, 2026 analysis, Chainalysis reported that transactions associated with the x402 protocol on the Base blockchain had exceeded 100 million cumulatively through the first quarter of 2026. Chainalysis also linked much of the earlier growth to speculative meme-coin activity. The figure captures a range of protocol activity, including speculation, while leaving the scale of everyday AI-driven purchases uncertain.
AI-assisted shopping can also rely on established payment methods, including cards, bank transfers and digital wallets. Where autonomous systems do initiate payments, businesses will need clear rules covering authorisation, spending limits, security, settlement and dispute resolution, regardless of the technology used.
Kashuba’s four operational considerations remain relevant to this emerging area, but additional questions arise when software rather than an individual shopper initiates a transaction. These include how consent is recorded, who is responsible for errors and how a payment can be challenged or refunded.
The broader challenge for digital asset payments remains practical rather than purely technical. Offering crypto at checkout is relatively straightforward compared with ensuring that customers understand the process and that merchants can manage costs, security, settlement and refunds consistently.
For Kashuba, lasting adoption depends on payment infrastructure that merchants can manage reliably and customers choose to use again.