Shoppers are aware of Bitcoin… but don't want to use them
A new survey has discovered that (astonishingly) 57% of online shoppers are aware of Bitcoin… yet only 18% may be willing to use them in the future. I know what you’re thinking: “I can’t believe a currency that isn’t backed by either tangible assets or a state bank isn’t being taken seriously”. But there we are.
The survey was carried out by Clarity Comms, a PR company – so take these numbers with as many grains of salt as you feel appropriate – but apparently they surveyed 2065 online shoppers to come up with these numbers.
Other findings suggested that only 5% of shoppers had used Bitcoin or one of the other crypto-currencies (like Dogecoin, or Litecoin). What on earth is putting people off of investing their money in a parody currency themed around a photo of a dog?!
Apparently when polled on why they are put off of using Bitcoin, the responses were as follows:
63% not understanding how they worked
53% had no experience of using them
52% had security concerns
43% had lack of trust in the protocol
and 29% questioned legality
On this question though, I suspect it is more a result of survey design – with a series of tick boxes listing possible concerns: would 43% of normal people really refer to a “lack of trust in the protocol” if not prompted?
Finally the other interesting finding is the gender split – with Bitcoin awareness much higher amongst men than women (69% vs 45%) and usage too (7% vs 2%). Perhaps this is unsurprising though given that the Bitcoin community’s terrible attitude towards women.
So these are interesting findings – clearly the media talking about cryptocurrencies is making a difference… but is it just more heat than noise? The lack of take up suggests that it might be.
Will Bitcoin ever take off? And more importantly, will it manage to avoid a liquidity trap?
