Survey Shows Growing Interest Among Americans in Blockchain and Cryptos

Americans with a working knowledge of cryptocurrencies have been showing a rising interest in blockchain technology and cryptos.

According to a survey conducted by the global peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Paxful, this demographic increasingly views digital assets as an alternative to the “defective” and traditional financial system.

Released on April 23, the study states that cryptocurrencies as an asset are maturing, and close to 50% of respondents believe that a triggering event in the traditional financial system will help people shift their focus to Bitcoin (BTC) as an alternative.

The most common use cases for Bitcoin, according to the survey, include real-life payments (69.2%) and to combat inflation and corruption (50.4%).

Crypto awareness increasing in the midst of the global pandemic

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Artur Schaback, chief operation officer and co-founder of Paxful, said:

“It was interesting to see that many believe that mainstream adoption will be in the next 6 to 10 years. Contrary to that, by the same amount of time (6 to 10 years) respondents also believe that the crypto bubble will burst. I am hopeful for the first scenario, so I think, as an industry, we should work towards creating more products that will be used for real-life use cases that can help accelerate mainstream adoption.”

Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, Paxful believes that both the cryptocurrency and the traditional finance system are being tested, which partly explains why the BTC price is rising as it becomes a safe haven asset.

Schaback highlighted that there is undoubtedly more awareness about crypto now compared to before:

“I remember when we first started, no one knew about Bitcoin or can even recalled the word ‘Bitcoin’. But, from the survey results conducted this year and the last, it showed that more people have heard of crypto and are now associating it to different concepts like money or technology. We’re still a long way there, but I’m eager to see more products that help towards mainstream adoption.”

Regarding the obstacles that adoption faces, the survey also highlights that 53.8% of respondents believe that the lack of knowledge is holding back the spread of crypto adoption.

Challenges for the future of crypto adoption

According to the report, the main factors respondents believe will help increase adoption are mobile mining, altcoin resurgence, institutional investing, and the enterprise use of blockchain technology.

Paxful’s COO commented on the challenges ahead:

“It’s still the knowledge about cryptocurrency itself. We know that more people have heard about it, but I think for the wrong reasons like gambling and multi-level scams. There is still fear from the mainstream audience because of these. As an industry, this is our biggest challenge.”