Digital currency ownership continues to rise according to Skrill survey

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According to a recent Skrill survey, 38% of respondents said they’d either invested in or bought a cryptocurrency. 

Further uncovering a number of trends on the rising popularity and adoption of cryptocurrency, 84% said they’d heard of at least one cryptocurrency, with 64% recognising Bitcoin.

In the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, Austria and Bulgaria, 20% said they owned Bitcoin now or had done so in the past. 

Ownership climbs in the US (24%) and Bulgaria (36%). Beyond Bitcoin, the report showed that the most known currencies were Bitcoin Cash (31% of consumers), Ethereum (22%) and Litecoin (19%). Ownership rates followed a similar trend, with Bitcoin Cash (9%) slightly leading Ethereum (8%) and Litecoin (7%).

“Cryptocurrency adoption has rapidly increased to heights nobody could have imagined even two years ago,” commented Rossen Yordanov, Senior Vice President, Skrill and NETELLER, at Paysafe. “We’re seeing that crypto is no longer a niche phenomenon, and our research provides further evidence of that, but there’s a significant opportunity to grow awareness about its potential for payments and transfers. We are working hard to make it easier for people everywhere to buy and sell cryptocurrencies with Skrill and NETELLER.”

Of the remaining currencies, Ethereum Classic, Dash, and Stellar were recognised by more than 10% of respondents, though ownership rates were as low as 5% or less. With even less recognition, up to 8% of respondents were aware of Chainlink, Tezos, Atom, EOS, OMG, Kyber Network, and 0x.

Consumers’ knowledge and understanding of cryptocurrencies as a financial asset appears sharply divided, with 47% agreeing or strongly agreeing that they don’t know enough about them for use or investment, while 38% considered them too risky for investment overall. However, 28% already believe that cryptocurrencies are a good investment for the future.

That said, consumer understanding appears to be trending higher. Almost a third (29%) of respondents said they know more now about cryptocurrencies than the same time last year, with a quarter (26%) saying they are more likely to invest in cryptocurrencies today compared to 12 months ago.