BitBeat: More People Know About Bitcoin, But Few Willing to Use It

– While awareness of cryptocurrencies is rising, very few people have actually used them. A new survey, from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the Massachusetts Division of Banks, found that 51% of people in the U. S. were aware of bitcoin and other currencies, albeit only about 3% had said they used it.
Still, that’s a big change from earlier this year. Back in February, another survey found that about three-quarters of the population hadn’t heard of bitcoin, and 80% said they’d never even consider using it.
The CSBS survey was taken in May, and canvassed 1,000 online consumers.
Some of the findings aren’t surprising; men, for instance, were more likely (64%) than women (38%) to be aware of virtual currencies. Only a limited number said they’d buy or use them – 65% of the overall respondents said they were ‘unlikely’ to ever use them. Younger respondents were more likely to have purchased bitcoins or other currencies, and Hispanics (30%) and African Americans (24%) were also more likely than whites (14%) to be willing to purchase virtual currencies.

This post was published at Wall Street Journal on Aug 27, 2014.