57% of Brits Are Aware of Bitcoin

More than half of Brits are aware of bitcoin, a new survey by communications agency Clarity has revealed.

According to the poll, 57% of the 2,000 online shoppers quizzed had heard about the digital currency. Men were more familiar with it than women, with 69% of men having heard of bitcoin versus 45% of women.

However, the survey also revealed only 5% of Britons have experimented with cryptocurrencies and most are not interested in using them, either. Just one in five said they would consider using them in the future. Some 7% of the men questioned had bought bitcoin, compared with only 2% of women.

Hurdles hampering mainstream adoption

So what’s hampering mainstream adoption? Uncertainty would be an easy way of explaining the sentiment. Only 18% said they would use digital currencies in the future. The problem for 63% of respondents is that they do not know enough about digital currencies, while 52% said they have no experience of using them.

Security was the top concern for 52% of respondents, while 43% said they did not trust the protocol and 29% questioned the legality of using digital currencies.

The survey found that 29% of people would not use digital currencies at all, while 29% said they do not know whether they will ever try a digital currency.

"There’s no doubt that bitcoin is an exciting innovation. Yet recent claims that it’s becoming mainstream are wide of the mark. These results show that there’s a long way to go before bitcoin or any of the other digital currencies achieve anything like a critical mass with consumers. Issues around security, price volatility and usability are among the challenges facing the developers," Jason Navon, co-founder of Clarity, told the Telegraph.

Earlier surveys point to similar concerns

A recent survey carried out by The Street found that 79% of American consumers would consider using digital currencies, citing various concerns. A Bloomberg survey found that just 42% of Americans know what bitcoin actually is.

Most surveys tend to prove cryptocurrency stereotypes. Geeks and tech professionals love them, youths are a lot more open to the idea of using digital currencies, men tend to experiment with them a lot more often than women, but most people are not willing to give them a go and most people aren’t well informed, either.