Amid record breaking Bitcoin prices, a new nationwide survey shows Australians have growing trust and confidence in digital currencies, with almost one in five now owning some form of crypto.
The annual Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI) nationwide survey aims to provide in-depth insight into the awareness, trust and confidence that everyday Australians have in digital currencies.
The IRCI report shows Bitcoin is still the best known cryptocurrency, with 88.8 per cent of the Australian population aware of it.
The IRCI report authors say consumer trust in crypto continues to improve, as digital currencies move further into the mainstream financial system.
In 2020 only 17.3 per cent of respondents still consider Bitcoin to be a scam, considerably down from 21.3 per cent in 2019, which authors say reflects a broader acceptance of the technology by the general public.
“We’re seeing more and more traditional and institutional investors look to Bitcoin as a growth strategy,” says Adrian Przelozny, CEO of Independent Reserve, the Australian digital asset exchange, which commissioned the report.
“It marries with the attitudinal shift we’ve seen across the Australian population as now almost two in five people view Bitcoin as a store of value or an investment vehicle,” he says.
Beyond Bitcoin; twice as many men than women know of other coins, such as Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, EOS and Litecoin.
Meanwhile, Millennials are nearly twice more likely than the general population to be informed about newer cryptos, such as Chainlink, an example of a token that has gained popularity amid this year’s trend toward decentralised finance (DeFi).
The full 2020 IRCI report can be viewed here.