European countries present a patchy landscape of cryptocurrency acceptance. Most consumers remain skeptical, but there is an emerging class of true believers, shows the latest ING survey, “From cash to crypto: a money revolution.”
True Believers and Enthusiasts Boost Adoption
The insurance giant went through another annual analysis of attitudes to cryptocurrencies. The research found out that outside of a small group of true believers and enthusiasts, Europeans are cautious about the promises of crypto coins. ING queried respondents in 15 countries, with close to 1,000 respondents in each country.
“The crypto type”, as ING names this group of respondents, is the most positive about the future of cryptocurrencies. But extreme enthusiasts are not the most knowledgeable about crypto assets. The researchers discovered that knowledge and understanding of crypto coins do not correlate with a positive attitude or expectations.
Respondents comfortable with crypto assets are already used to various forms of cashless payments. This is especially true of male respondents with relatively high incomes, ING discovered. But the general European consumer still prefers traditional modes of payment, including physical cash.
Turkey, Romania, and Poland hold the lead when it comes to positive attitudes about digital assets. In the case of Turkey, the country has shown strong adoption of multiple crypto schemes, as locals attempt to mitigate the crash of the lira exchange rate. In Turkey, 62% of respondents had a positive attitude to crypto assets.
Most Europeans Cautious About Cryptocurrencies
One of the curious discoveries was that Europeans were very cautious about sending money via social media. When queried about Facebook’s use as a platform for payments, as much as 60% of Europeans responded negatively. Even in crypto-friendly Turkey, the usage of Facebook or other social media for payments was viewed with relatively low approval rates, with 43% against.
Europeans get informed about digital coins mostly from online media, ING discovered. But there are multiple regional differences, as some countries have stronger online communities or news portals.
Given that Europe is one of the hotspots when it comes to crypto exchanges, the ING survey shows that the general population is still largely unaware of crypto assets, and still far from quick or mass adoption. The UK, which is the leading country for crypto exchanges, was not included in the survey.
The survey also excludes the notoriously crypto-friendly Baltic countries, where adoption and startups are relatively higher.
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