A Crypto-What? Poll Finds 1 In 10 Americans Unfamiliar With Cryptocurrencies

More than one in 10 Americans are unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies, according to a new Harris Poll conducted on behalf of Bloomberg.

What Happened: In a survey of 1,984 adults polled between Feb. 12-14, nearly half of the respondents said only that they'd heard of some of the coins, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Only 16% of respondents said they were very familiar with cryptocurrencies, while 28% said they were somewhat familiar.

When queried on how cryptocurrencies worked, 61% of people who had heard of them admitted having minimal understanding of their workings, while only 14% of those familiar with the coins claimed to understand “very well” how they worked.

Among the respondents who were familiar with cryptocurrencies, 43% doubted that they are a legitimate form of payment.

See also: Best Cryptocurrency

Younger respondents weren’t unanimous in their faith in crypto: 58% of Gen Z respondents (defined as between 18 and 24 years old) who professed to having crypto knowledge said that digital currencies are either a very or somewhat legitimate form of payment, and 69% of millennials (those between 25 and 40 years old) shared that positive sentiment.

Not Gaining Purchase: Looking ahead, roughly one-third of respondents predicted crypto will become a standard form of payment.

But the current commotion over cryptocurrency did not impress most respondents: Only 8% predicted Bitcoin will rise above the $100,000 mark, while 4% predicted Bitcoin will plummet to $0. And 29% believed the subject will largely be forgotten in 10 years.

Only 10% of people familiar with crypto said they used it on a regular basis to make purchases.

“From the public standpoint, it’s not a cryptocurrency, it’s a cryptic-currency,” said John Gerzema, CEO of the Harris Poll.

(Photo by André François McKenzie on Unsplash)

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Posted In: CryptocurrencyNewsEducationMediaGeneralAmericansHarris PollJohn Gerzemapoll
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!