One in four small businesses in the UK has used cryptocurrencies to support growth

Earlier this year, it was revealed by VistaPrint that one in four small businesses has used crypto to generate growth. This follows from the latest YouGov figures that 93% of UK adults have now heard of crypto in some form or another.

This adoption shows that the digital assets are moving from a novelty to a mature, transactional tool that consumers are familiar with. The commercial trend appears to be set to continue in this direction, as the UK registered the second fastest Y-o-Y growth in crypto ownership globally in 2025.

What’s driving SME crypto adoption?

The motivations behind UK SMEs turning to digital assets adoption are both operational and financial. 62% of consumers have previously used non-traditional payment methods, with 45% of consumers choosing their payment method based on convenience and 35% basing their decision on speed.

The importance of having as many different payment methods available is well understood. Even as far back as 2018, 90% of consumers demanded multiple payment methods. Ultimately, the movement towards accepting crypto is, in some part, nothing to do with crypto but catering to more payment types.

However, crypto does offer its advantages, not just in adhering to the speed and convenience that consumers want, but in reducing costs for the seller. Merchant fees and other payment processor costs can be steep for businesses, particularly for international sales, so crypto offers an alternative solution to not only avoid cross-border fees and FX margins, but to avoid intermediaries entirely.

Beyond payments, digital assets are becoming important to capital allocation strategies. Over a third of SME owners (36%) have invested some of their surplus cash into cryptocurrencies to boost returns. It’s not simply returns, though, as diversification is a key part of a balanced allocation, with some SME owners seeing their crypto holdings as a hedge against GBP risks. 

While hedging the pound didn’t used to be important for SMEs because they were domestic businesses, SMEs increasingly buy and sell their goods and services internationally. Multi-currency accounts were a good solution to this, but they still have exchange fees.

The adoption gap—confidence, size, and risk

The 25% adoption rate statistic tells a different story when digging deeper into the survey. For SMEs with 10 to 49 employees, the adoption rate was a mighty 63% compared to microbusinesses, which was 39%. 

While intuitively we may have expected micro-businesses to have more appetite for risk and more fringe strategies, the opposite is actually true. This could be because of the greater financial buffer that larger SMEs have, and their access to specialists, which affords them a higher tolerance for volatility. For them, it’s a diversification tool to introduce another asset and payment type, while for microbusinesses, it may command too many resources and put them at a disproportionate risk.

A nation of adopters

Businesses' adoption of cryptocurrency cannot precede consumer adoption—the latter isn’t just what drives demand and use case, it’s what creates the broader crypto demand and underpins blockchain mechanisms.

A 2025 Gemini report identifies the UK as the global leader when it comes to adoption growth. In 2024, adoption rose by 18% Y-o-Y, while in 2025, it rose by 24%. This is higher than the US, France, Italy, and Australia—with only Singapore edging them out at 28%.

This widespread public engagement creates a powerful feedback loop. The velocity of the adoption is boosted where consumers see crypto as familiar, which then businesses can begin to integrate them due to wider acceptance. This further feeds familiarity and trust, and so on.

While the UK is yet to pioneer crypto investing in terms of legitimising crypto ETFs, most consumer-facing regulations simply lie in having to read disclosures and facing fairly minimal 24-hour cooling-down periods. Because of this regulatory framework, we shouldn’t expect to see adoption throttled by regulation anytime soon.

The unseen risk 

This adoption exists within a context of regulatory ambiguity. Compared to the EU, UK regulation is still in its infancy, meaning businesses are exposed to regulatory risk. The most cited concern among SME owners was a lack of knowledge (38%), followed by market volatility (33%) and regulatory uncertainty (30%). Considering that crypto is often cited as being plagued by volatility, it goes to show how big a deal regulation is, as it scores similarly in the list of concerns.

These fears are well-founded. Businesses are operating well ahead of established policy. And it’s not through a lag in policymaking, but an intentionally open-ended approach that the UK is taking so they can remain agile with the evolving technology. 

While HM Treasury published a draft statutory instrument in April 2025 to begin structuring the market (particularly focusing on exchanges and consumer protection), a final and enforceable framework is yet to come. 

The concern in the first place, though, was a lack of knowledge. This may seem separate from regulatory concerns, but is it? 54% of business owners are asking for more government-led information. Yes, they can turn to social media and other sources of information to learn about crypto, but that’s a risk in and of itself. Business owners want the government to step up and provide more knowledge on the matter.

Is it the beginning of a crypto-enabled UK economy?

These high adoption rates pose an interesting question about where the UK will be in ten years. If the trend continues, we can expect most businesses to accept crypto, and for that to be a formality, like how PayPal and Google Wallet became so ubiquitous (or, perhaps, a digital wallet that combines both old and new forms of payment).

There is still the potential for a plateau, and this may depend on the direction the UK Government take its regulation. It may also depend on the market itself. Crypto is booming as of summer 2025, but a steep crash could be a major setback. 

Perhaps more concerning is that it’s the Government that are waiting to see how adoption, commercialisation, market stability, and UK-strategic opportunities play out before making any decisions.