# The Problem

Major companies globally have taken steps towards cryptocurrency payments offering direct or indirect crypto payments. When large corporations express interest in crypto, adoption rates tend to surge, and it is predicted that companies like Amazon could enter the crypto market in the latter half of 2023, further driving adoption rates.

A Deloitte study on merchants revealed that around two-thirds of surveyed merchants believed that their customers had a significant interest in using digital payment methods and that the overall interest in digital solutions was significant, particularly among younger generations.

Businesses looking for a crypto payment solution today will have to opt to use a centralised solution. Currently, these services are only offered in selected countries. Merchants relying on a centralised entity to process transactions open up to many counterparty risks and delayed settlement. In some cases, merchants are not able to retrieve their payments at all.

<figure><img src="/files/dgPwlKhywTGeFIkGmDXg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

The user journey for crypto payments today are also primitive. Customers paying with crypto have to manually send tokens to a specified address, owned by a centralised entity, and wait for transactions to go through.&#x20;

<figure><img src="/files/yvF6f1M6XR31MGAuZab8" alt=""><figcaption><p>Typical crypto checkout journey currently available.</p></figcaption></figure>

Users also have to perform swaps or exchange the tokens on third party sites to the preferred or accepted tokens before making a payment, often second guessing which network can they transact with. This process is complicated, and users are faced with high transaction costs and complex procedures, leading to a drop off in crypto payments to be adopted.

<figure><img src="/files/FRHzDHMHk6YxfQFovtMq" alt=""><figcaption><p>Confusing instructions for users who want to pay with crypto</p></figcaption></figure>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://whitepaper.paywong.com/a-new-standard-for-crypto-payments/the-problem.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.
