Attitudes on crypto are geographically divided, ConsenSys survey finds

On Tuesday, ConsenSys published a survey in partnership with YouGov, focusing on crypto and Web3. The survey findings suggest a contrast between countries with developed economies and those with emerging economies.

The survey polled over 15,000 people aged 18 to 65 in late April through May of this year. The respondents were also spread out among 15 different nations across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. 

A healthy supermajority, 92%, were aware of crypto, but that’s where the similarities ended. 

Respondents from developing nations were generally more optimistic on crypto, while developed nations were decidedly more skeptical. 

Nigerians were quite keen on owning crypto as a store of value, with 65% of Nigerians feeling this way. 

For crypto investors in the US, Germany and the UK, the reasons for owning digital currencies were a bit different. 

Americans, Germans and Brits all said one of their top reasons for investing in crypto was because they were “curious” and had a desire to educate themselves on the industry through “experimenting,” a ConsenSys spokesperson told Blockworks.

And 56% of Argentinians were motivated to own crypto for the same reason. They reported feeling that their “local currency is too unstable.” The Argentine peso has reached over 114% inflation, according to the New York Times. 

This is something Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire expanded on in a recent Bloomberg interview, telling the outlet that he sees “enormous demand for digital dollars in emerging markets.”

Allaire was speaking on the news about Circle obtaining a license to offer its stablecoin services in Singapore. He noted that Asia has the most demand for such services, which could partially explain why the survey found that respondents from Asian nations were among the most likely to invest in crypto over the next 12 months.

Respondents were also asked which three concepts they most closely associated with crypto. With twelve possible answers, 38% said crypto either makes them think of “the future of money,” an “alternative to the traditional financial ecosystem,” or “the future of digital ownership.”

Broken down further by nationality, 58% of Nigerians, 50% of South Africans, and 44% of Mexicans believe to a certain extent that crypto is the future of money. 

Among the Germans and Brits who were polled, less than 20% of them thought the same. 

Similarly with NFTs, which is a way some people are trying to create value and get compensated on the internet, developing nations such as Nigeria, South Africa and Vietnam are most familiar with the concept of NFTs. 

The most stark comparison on NFTs comes between British and Vietnamese respondents. UK residents were not likely to have owned an NFT, with 76% of them never having bought one. Only 24% of Vietnamese residents reported never having owned an NFT.

However, there was one common thread throughout the survey. Nigeria is by far and away the most bullish on crypto, despite the fact that crypto trading is severely limited in the country.

A whopping 70% of Nigerian respondents correctly guessed the definition of a blockchain, which ConsenSys defined as “a secure, decentralized and transparent digital ledger that records and verifies transactions.” Only 36% of Americans and 30% of British residents cracked the right definition.

Also, nearly 80% of Nigerians said they understand what crypto is, with only 1 in 3 people having the same level of understanding in Indonesia and Japan. 

That tracks with the fact that Nigerians have the highest level of crypto ownership, according to the survey. They blow the next highest owners out of the water, which are South Koreans and South Africans. 

Nigeria is also one of the few countries with an active CBDC program, and its citizens haven’t been very receptive to the economic change.

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