[2018-09-11]YouGov Omnibus Study: 80% of Americans are Cognizant of Bitcoin

[Vladdirescu87]

There is a lot of hope among the Millennials about the chances of crypto being recognized widely, and almost half of those who believe this would choose using crypto over the U.S dollar, according to a recently carried out consumer survey on consciousness of and attitudes about crypto.

As per YouGov Omnibus, a research company which carries out online countrywide surveys, almost 80 percent of Americans are cognizant of at least one form of crypto.

Read the details in the article of Coinidol dot com, the world blockchain news outlet: https://coinidol.com/yougov-omnibus-study-80-of-americans-cognizant-of-bitcoin/

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[timerland]

Being aware of bitcoin doesn't necessarily mean that these people are actively uing bitcoin.

The actual adoption rates in terms of bitcoin use is probably still extremely low, and even within the group of adopters within the USA right now I'd say that the majority are using bitcoin as a speculative instrument instead of actually using it as a currency/store of value in the long run.

I'd say that there are definitely huge increases in awareness for bitcoin worldwide, but this awareness often doesn't translate into actual use. Also, it's important to know that we don't know how accurate these figures are given that the sample most likely all conducted the survey through the internet, leading to data bias. But all this means that there is still just so much untapped potential as adoption rates still has huge amount of upside in the long term.

[hatshepsut93]

I don't like the fact that so many people have heard about Bitcoin and yet so many few own it and even less use it as a currency. I guess most people are okay with banks and governments, they don't feel the pressure to look for alternatives like Bitcoin. Maybe it will change in the future if there will be more disasters like the 2008 crisis, more countries will experience hyperinflation, and anti-cash policies.

[squatter]

I don't like the fact that so many people have heard about Bitcoin and yet so many own it and even less use it as a currency. I guess most people are okay with banks and governments, they don't feel the pressure to look for alternatives like Bitcoin. Maybe it will change in the future if there will be more disasters like the 2008 crisis, more countries will experience hyperinflation, and anti-cash policies.

I assume you meant so few own it.

Mass adoption can't happen overnight. We're talking about building a network from scratch. That 80% of Americans have heard of it is a totally new phenomenon. Would you expect all of them -- hundreds of millions of people -- to immediately go out and buy BTC (and then actually use it) just because they've heard of it? I certainly don't go out and buy something just because I'm aware of it.

Bitcoin has a steep learning curve. More than that, lots of people who've heard of it are skeptical due to its difficulty of use (for newbies) and years of bad press. Awareness is the first step. Adoption comes later.

[BitHodler]

I guess most people are okay with banks and governments, they don't feel the pressure to look for alternatives like Bitcoin. Maybe it will change in the future if there will be more disasters like the 2008 crisis, more countries will experience hyperinflation, and anti-cash policies.

The average person needs to go through something horrible in order to acknowledge how bad the situation is, and as long as that doesn't happen, and banks function perfectly fine, nothing will likely change.

I don't see anything wrong with how my bank works, and it has been working consistently well for at least 15 years straight. I enjoy instant local transactions, no fees involved, buyers protection, and in some cases even bonuses.

If I wasn't into Bitcoin, there wouldn't be a reason to switch, and for that reason I can't blame the average person to not switch either. Banks stepped up their game and it works apparently.

[hatshepsut93]

I assume you meant so few own it.

My bad, made a typo.

Mass adoption can't happen overnight. We're talking about building a network from scratch. That 80% of Americans have heard of it is a totally new phenomenon. Would you expect all of them -- hundreds of millions of people -- to immediately go out and buy BTC (and then actually use it) just because they've heard of it? I certainly don't go out and buy something just because I'm aware of it.

Bitcoin has a steep learning curve. More than that, lots of people who've heard of it are skeptical due to its difficulty of use (for newbies) and years of bad press. Awareness is the first step. Adoption comes later.

Nowadays adoption happens really fast, nearly everyone moved from cellphones to smartphones, Facebook has 2 billion users and so on. People pick up new things quickly if those things are useful, but Bitcoin isn't exactly new to most people, it's electronic money and they already have that. The benefits of being your own bank don't sound good for them. Something needs to change for adoption to come, otherwise we'll see only small gains.

[Slow death]

wow, if they did research in my country they would probably find out that less than 5% of people heard about bitcoin. leaving jokes aside. It is important to do research on how many rich, millionaires and billionaires buy bitcoin and how much money they spent to buy bitcoin. We need to know to what extent the rich, millionaires and billionaires look at bitcoin as an investment that can be taken seriously and bring them profits. One thing I noticed, it's no use if 100% of people in a country have heard about bitcoin if they only buy very little, we need people to buy too much bitcoin, people buy gold, diamonds, houses, so they too should buy bitcoin. If they are not buying bitcoin it means they do not feel safe buying bitcoin, so we have to ensure effective means for these people to feel secure. maybe the regulations are a big step for this.

[figmentofmyass]

wow, if they did research in my country they would probably find out that less than 5% of people heard about bitcoin. leaving jokes aside. It is important to do research on how many rich, millionaires and billionaires buy bitcoin and how much money they spent to buy bitcoin. We need to know to what extent the rich, millionaires and billionaires look at bitcoin as an investment that can be taken seriously and bring them profits. One thing I noticed, it's no use if 100% of people in a country have heard about bitcoin if they only buy very little, we need people to buy too much bitcoin, people buy gold, diamonds, houses, so they too should buy bitcoin. If they are not buying bitcoin it means they do not feel safe buying bitcoin, so we have to ensure effective means for these people to feel secure. maybe the regulations are a big step for this.

true, but at the same time, we should expect that most people---and that includes rich people---are going to be laggards and late adopters. IMO, very few people get to participate in the early adopter stage. the hyper rich only to need to worry about hedging their wealth. they don't need to take large bitcoin positions.

it's mass adoption by the lower and middle classes that can force the legacy finance world, central banks and governments to adopt bitcoin, for the same reason that gold reserves exist. regardless of what the elites think right now, it's in peoples' hands. the elites have no say over this.

[magneto]

These figures are definitely elevated due to the target audience of this YouGov survey being US citizens with a computer and technical knowledge to actually be able to answer these questions. Slow death mentioned that if the survey was to be conducted in his country, the figure may be as low as 5%. And I definitely think that's possible.

I'm sure that around the world this figure is much less, especially in less developed, second or third world nations where bitcoin may not have entered the public consciousness yet. Also, some countries may have high awareness, but negative awareness due to public misconception of bitcoin and crypto as a whole.

I think that it's still a positive to see such high numbers, all in all. It's just that this number is likely not as high, but still climbing in other parts of the world. Also, I'd say that adoption, and global support of bitcoin that will be the most important and should be measured. People being aware of bitcoin, but not adopting bitcoin doesn't really say much.

[Betwrong]

wow, if they did research in my country they would probably find out that less than 5% of people heard about bitcoin. leaving jokes aside. It is important to do research on how many rich, millionaires and billionaires buy bitcoin and how much money they spent to buy bitcoin. We need to know to what extent the rich, millionaires and billionaires look at bitcoin as an investment that can be taken seriously and bring them profits. One thing I noticed, it's no use if 100% of people in a country have heard about bitcoin if they only buy very little, we need people to buy too much bitcoin, people buy gold, diamonds, houses, so they too should buy bitcoin. If they are not buying bitcoin it means they do not feel safe buying bitcoin, so we have to ensure effective means for these people to feel secure. maybe the regulations are a big step for this.

true, but at the same time, we should expect that most people---and that includes rich people---are going to be laggards and late adopters. IMO, very few people get to participate in the early adopter stage. the hyper rich only to need to worry about hedging their wealth. they don't need to take large bitcoin positions.

it's mass adoption by the lower and middle classes that can force the legacy finance world, central banks and governments to adopt bitcoin, for the same reason that gold reserves exist. regardless of what the elites think right now, it's in peoples' hands. the elites have no say over this.

We all know that there are rich people for whom it's never enough and they always want to become even richer. But okay, let's forget about them, assuming they are minority, and let's talk about rational millionaires who just want to leave to their kids not less than that what they have inherited themselves. Those people invest small parts of their wealth in various projects to compensate what they spend during their lifetime. And it looks very irrational to me to not invest at least 1% in Bitcoin being in their place. One percent of a million USD equals to 10k USD, so every millionaire theoretically could buy over 1 Bitcoin. Only in reality they can't do that because there are 36 million millionaires in the world and only 21 million Bitcoins will be mined ever, so they'd better hurry up.

[1Referee]

And it looks very irrational to me to not invest at least 1% in Bitcoin being in their place. One percent of a million USD equals to 10k USD, so every millionaire theoretically could buy over 1 Bitcoin. Only in reality they can't do that because there are 36 million millionaires in the world and only 21 million Bitcoins will be mined ever, so they'd better hurry up.

Millionaires aren't really in a rush to invest in Bitcoin, and honestly speaking, I think they are just keeping an eye on Bitcoin to see whether or not it will be able to overcome previous all time highs. If it manages to bounce back up to $20,000 they might have enough confidence/believe that Bitcoin isn't going away and still invest.

It won't make much of a difference for them whether they buy a minimum of 1BTC at $7000 today or 1BTC for $20,000 later on. Most millionaires look for solidity, and if Bitcoin can bounce back up, I'm pretty sure that it will initiate a tremendous fomo rally amongst the elite.

I rather see normal folks hurry up to get their hands on smaller chunks of a whole coins so there is at least some level of 'fair' coin distribution preparation going on.

Bitcoin is probably the last ever opportunity for normal folks to build up wealth in a convenient manner, and they are throwing it to waste.  

[figmentofmyass]

true, but at the same time, we should expect that most people---and that includes rich people---are going to be laggards and late adopters. IMO, very few people get to participate in the early adopter stage. the hyper rich only to need to worry about hedging their wealth. they don't need to take large bitcoin positions.

it's mass adoption by the lower and middle classes that can force the legacy finance world, central banks and governments to adopt bitcoin, for the same reason that gold reserves exist. regardless of what the elites think right now, it's in peoples' hands. the elites have no say over this.

We all know that there are rich people for whom it's never enough and they always want to become even richer. But okay, let's forget about them, assuming they are minority, and let's talk about rational millionaires who just want to leave to their kids not less than that what they have inherited themselves. Those people invest small parts of their wealth in various projects to compensate what they spend during their lifetime. And it looks very irrational to me to not invest at least 1% in Bitcoin being in their place.

hence "they don't need to take large bitcoin positions."

from my and your perspective, it's definitely rational to invest something into bitcoin, given the massive potential reward. but that's not so obvious to most people (including the rich). the rich have been hedging their wealth for generations; they don't need bitcoin. not yet, anyway, as the market hasn't forced their hand. they can afford to be laggards.

for the few that do invest into bitcoin, they don't need large positions (>1% of assets) to reap huge rewards. and most will want to minimize their risk exposure as well.

[1BTC EQUALS 1CAR]

I know that the bigger portion of that percentage might be the people who just heard it and who got scammed by it. But it still a good study for me because adoption does not start easily without awareness on people. We are still making little steps towards success but we should take it seriously.

[Bitcoinsummoner]

The online survey conducted was a little biased in the first place. Majority of users online knows bitcoin and it would be better asked on streets.

So basically this survey is invalid in the looks of it.

 /do you love ice cream? smh : asking inside an ice cream store/

As per YouGov Omnibus, a research company which carries out online countrywide surveys, almost 80 percent of Americans are cognizant of at least one form of crypto.