PALM BEACH, Fla. , April 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The payments industry is expected to embrace the entry of cryptocurrencies into the market in 2022. Evolution is apparent across practically every pocket of the payments industry. Disruptive forces like cryptocurrencies and buy now, pay later, or BNPL, are now mainstream topics in payments, and in 2022 all eyes are on the incumbents as they formulate their responses to these trends. The payments industry began to get serious about cryptocurrency in 2021. Throughout the year, we saw M&A activity — including PayPal Holdings Inc. acquiring Curv Inc. and Nuvei acquiring SimplexCC Ltd. — as well as new partnerships, cryptocurrency feature launches, significant funding rounds and dedicated cryptocurrency teams built out within incumbents. A meaningful trend is taking hold, and payments companies do not want to be left in the dark. A report from S&P Global Market Intelligence said that: "In 2022, we anticipate cryptocurrency will be an unmistakable theme across the payments industry. We expect to see payments companies with venture arms injecting more capital into the cryptocurrency ecosystem and incumbents padding their head count with cryptocurrency talent. Any payments company that has not begun to take this market seriously by the end of the year is likely to be at a significant disadvantage."