A survey conducted by Finder.com indicated that about 8% of American adults hold digital currencies. The survey also revealed that the number of men who owned virtual currencies was more than twice that of women. For those who didn?t hold any digital currency the main reason for this state of affairs was a conviction that they were not necessary.
The most popular digital coin in the study was Bitcoin (BTC) which was owned by 5.15% of the people who were surveyed. Ethereum (ETH) was a distant second as it was owned by 1.8% of the survey?s respondents while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was owned by 0.9% of digital currency enthusiasts.
High acceptance among millenials
Acceptance for virtual coins was highest among millenials as 17% of those aged between 37 and 22 owned the digital currencies. The proportion of those in Generation X (those aged between 37 and 55) who owned cryptos was under 9% while that of baby boomers was slightly over 2%.
The survey also sought reasons as to what was preventing a higher level of adoption of cryptocurrencies. Among the reasons cited included the high risk associated with virtual currencies as well as there being too many fees.
Harris poll
The high interest among millenials in virtual currencies according to Finder.com is in agreement with another survey which was conducted last year in November and came to the same conclusion. This was an online study conducted by Harris Poll at the request of Blockchain Capital.
According to the study about 25% of millenials had a preference for Bitcoin over stocks. Approximately 27% of millenials would rather own Bitcoin worth $1,000 than own stocks worth $1,000. When it came to male millenials the number was even higher as 38% of stated a preference for Bitcoin over stocks.
With regards to bonds 30% of millenials indicated a preference for Bitcoin over government bonds meaning they would rather own bitcoin worth $1,000 than own government bonds of a similar value. 22% of millenials also indicated that they would pick the digital coin over real estate while another 19% indicated a preference for bitcoin over gold. Among men the preference for bitcoin was higher over the traditional assets.
Leading indicator
With younger demographics often serving as a leading indicator of the future it could mean that the adoption of virtual currencies will only keep on growing. One of the reasons why bitcoin turned out to be so popular among millenials was the fact that there was more awareness among this demographic with regards to bitcoin compared to older demographics. Among millenials the awareness of Bitcoin is higher by over two times compared to older demographics.
Due to their high levels of awareness millenials were also more likely to have a positive view of the virtual currency vis-?-vis older demographics. For instance 27% of millenials had more trust in Bitcoin compared to banks. This is despite the awareness levels of bitcoin not being the same as those of banks. Additionally millenials are more convinced than any other demographic that the adoption rate of bitcoin will increase in the coming decade.
