A new survey has revealed that about 85% of consumers have at least heard about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies but only 26% of them fully trust in the potentials of these digital currencies.
The survey, dubbed “Digimentality—Fear and favoring of digital currency,” was conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by leading payments and cryptocurrency platform, Crypto.com.
The shift to digital money
In the first two months of 2020, more than 3,000 correspondents were interviewed to discern the level of trust consumers have in cryptocurrencies. The survey showed that people, in general, are gradually considering cashless payment options mainly for their convenience and traceability.
This shift of attention to cryptocurrencies comes at a time where federal governments around the world are taking measures to limit contact with cash in a bid to curb the spread of the COVID-19.
Speaking on the findings, Kris Marszalek, the CEO of Crypto.com said;
Our report showed that while the use of cryptocurrencies amongst the general public is low, people are very curious and optimistic about them for the future…This bodes very well for our industry and comes at a pivotal time when trust in financial markets is wavering and more people are turning their attention to the growing range of digital currencies that continue to present a clear plan B to our traditional financial structures.
Many consumers find CBDC trustworthy
ith many countries research and planning to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), up to 54% of the survey respondents said they find the government-backed cryptocurrency more trustworthy than private coins like Bitcoin and the altcoins.
Moving forward, 24% of people consider cryptocurrencies as “short-term investments” while as much as 34% said that online payments are the main function of digital currencies.
Additionally, Jason Wincuinas, head of the survey and senior editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit noted that the Coronavirus had forced world governments to turn to digital currencies, citing the US digital dollar wallet proposal, China, and Sweden as instances.
On using cryptocurrencies, 20% of the participants said that although they are currently not using digital currencies, they plan to do so next year, and this could become a trend if the COVID-19 continues to spread.
“The trend toward cashless payments is an irresistible force. And it was very interesting to observe greater eagerness and expectations within the developing economies we tested…I think it’s clear there could be another leap-frog effect in the waiting as economies like China push ahead with digital ways to pay, and economies with older payment infrastructures play a wait-and-see game,” Wincuinas concluded.
Meanwhile, in another survey by Intervista for Migros Banks, it was reported that cryptocurrencies were becoming popular among Swiss savers.
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