Share this article

85% Of Canadians Are 'Aware' Of Bitcoin, Says Bank of Canada

The results of a nationwide bitcoin survey conducted December by the Bank of Canada are now in.

Updated Sep 13, 2021, 8:09 a.m. Published Jul 12, 2018, 2:00 a.m.
shutterstock_1061567072

The number of Canadians who own bitcoin nearly doubled over the course of a year, according to the results of a newly-published survey by the Bank of Canada.

Dubbed the Bitcoin Omnibus Survey (BTCOS), the country's central bank hoped to identify "the driving reasons for ownership during the sudden rise in Bitcoin prices" and in understanding "bitcoin's potential impact on how the Bank of Canada undertakes its core functions," according to the analytical note presenting survey results.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Having conducted a similar survey back in 2016, the analysis found that there was increased interest in bitcoin's price over the year. The results further show that ownership among Canadians rose from 2.9 to 5 percent and overall awareness of the cryptocurrency jumped up to 85 percent.

The survey brought together voices from over 2,500 Canadians across the country, with the majority French-speaking province of Quebec seeing the largest increase in awareness of bitcoin. The population aware of bitcoin rose over 20 percent during the year.

In addition, the results show a significant improvement in general understanding about bitcoin with the proportion of Canadians believing bitcoin is "government-backed" falling about 40 percent from the previous survey. Further, the new set found that roughly half of Canadians who own bitcoin do not use it to transact, but rather, hold the coins "as an investment."

The timing of the survey is notable, given that December of last year saw the price of bitcoin spike to nearly $20,000.

Charts image via Shutterstock

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

LUNC Surges Over 160% in a Week as Do Kwon Sentencing and Token Burns Draw Traders

(Midjourney/CoinDesk)

The rally is driven by speculation that a final verdict could bring clarity to the project, as well as technical factors like token burns.

What to know:

  • Terra Classic (LUNC) surged 74% to $0.0000072, up 160% in the past week, on exploding trading volume, ahead of Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon's sentencing on Dec. 11.
  • The rally is driven by speculation that a final verdict could bring clarity to the project, as well as technical factors like token burns, with 849 million LUNC destroyed in the past week.
  • The token's momentum is also fueled by Binance's pause on LUNC withdrawals ahead of the Terra Chain's v2.18 upgrade, which aims to improve network stability, despite the token remaining volatile.