The latest survey by the Digital Currency Council (DCC) reveals a record 12% of US consumers were either “likely” or “highly likely” to use Bitcoin in 2015.
A representative sample of 357 adult participants in March also reflected the growing trend of younger age groups fuelling interest and practical usage of digital currency. The findings formed part of the DCC’s seventh and latest Pulse Report, an ad hoc statistics series on a range of issues affecting the digital currency industry.
DCC CEO David Berger commented on the results:
“Not unlike other new technologies, the early adopters of Bitcoin will be at the younger end of the demographic spectrum. My mom may never use Bitcoin, but my daughter definitely will.”
The survey found that those aged 18-24 “were four times more likely” to report that they would use Bitcoin than those in the least responsive age group, 65+.
While 73.6% maintained they were “highly unlikely” to use Bitcoin this year, the results demonstrate a swing towards open consideration of Bitcoin at a rate which would have seemed unlikely as recently as one year ago.
In the European space meanwhile, the largest consumer survey ever to include Bitcoin conducted by ING in April showed varied attitudes by country. 36% of respondents in Turkey agreed that Bitcoin “was the future of spending online,” while for the Netherlands this figure was reduced to just 8%.
The figures run in contrast to established assumptions regarding Bitcoin’s status in Europe, the Netherlands being traditionally considered a Bitcoin hub, while Turkey offers fewer options for merchants and consumers. However, Turkish consumers’ greater use of mobile banking – more than any other European country – points to a younger consumer group more willing to embrace new technological phenomena.
“It is always a lot easier and more profitable in the long term to get a young user for life then try to switch an old user to your offering,” Blockchain Capital partner Dominik Żynis told Cointelegraph. “You don’t have objections to handle at all; they might even like it because it is the antithesis to what they perceive as something from the last generation.”