By Lucas Williams
According to the statistics provided by a recent report, 99% of people from Brazil and Mexico and 96% of Americans do not have a clear understanding of the basic concept of cryptocurrencies. From all the respondents of the survey who are aware of Bitcoin, around 17%, 15% and 14% in the United States, Brazil and Mexico own the pioneer cryptocurrency. The report was published by cryptoliteracy.org and it further elaborated that 9 out of the 10 respondents of the survey were not aware that Bitcoin has a total market supply limit of 21 million coins.
The study published by cryptoliteracy.org indicates that there is low comprehension of crypto fundamentals amongst people in 2021. A Yougov survey was leveraged by the researchers for sampling around 1,000 participants who are familiar with cryptocurrency in every country. There were 17 questions in the study that were related to bitcoin, cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi) and general sentiment. The survey’s key findings noted that the best teacher is ownership, which means that all participants of the survey who owned the digital currency were twice more likely to answer the survey correctly.
It was also elaborated in the cryptoliteracy.org report that around 33% of the believed that it was easy to purchase crypto assets nowadays. In addition, the survey also highlighted that cryptocurrency appears to be failing in its mission of financial inclusion. According to the results of the survey, ownership at this point in time is only seen amongst highly educated users, or wealthy ones. Furthermore, when it comes to crypto comprehension, the older generations are ‘left behind’ because almost 67% of the ‘Baby Boomers’ in the United States did not possess basic crypto knowledge. According to the other key findings of the said survey, it is more likely for Brazilians as well as Mexicans to buy and sell crypto within the next six months.
Furthermore, it was mentioned in the study that use case could vary by generation as well as by geography. One-third of the Mexicans said that they would use crypto for payment of goods and services, whereas 25% of the Brazilians were willing to do so. It was highlighted in the cryptoliteracy.org study that in comparison, only 13% of the American respondents were willing to use this approach. The survey disclosed that 50% of Americans said that they would use cryptocurrency as a way of saving for the future.
This clarified that younger generations are actually three times more likely to opt for crypto as a means of payment, as opposed to older generations that regard it more like an investment. There is also a lack in basic knowledge about a supply cap on cryptocurrencies amongst the participants of the survey. The authors of the study explained that Bitcoin is different from central banks that are under the control of politicians and is unique because of tis computer code-based issuance schedule. However, 9 out of the 10 respondents of the survey did not have basic concepts regarding the demand and supply of Bitcoin.