The highly publicised bankruptcies of Terra and FTX in 2022 caused a spillover into the crypto industry, which led to the loss of over $2 trillion value in total crypto market cap. Despite this, a survey by stablecoin issuer Paxos found that consumer confidence and trust in the crypto industry is persistently strong.
Paxos conducted the study in order to understand “how the 2022 crypto winter and large industry fallouts impacted consumer behaviour and confidence in the crypto ecosystem.”
5,000 respondents who were 18 years of age or older, residing in the United States, and had a total household income of more than $50,000 participated in the poll, which was conducted from January 5 to January 6. Only people with active bank accounts and at least one cryptocurrency purchase in the previous three years were eligible for the poll.
Similar to the results from the 2022 survey, more than 75% of individuals polled said they were very optimistic or at least relatively confident in the future of cryptocurrencies. The report added that 72% of respondents stated they are only slightly or not at all concerned about the volatility of the crypto markets that has been observed over the past year.
Crypto holders were not discouraged by the crypto winter of 2022, and some even considered it as a prime time to enter the market — considering that 27% of the respondents answered that they have bought their first crypto last year.
Although 52% of cryptocurrency owners are still interested in using their assets as investments, they also wish to utilise their digital assets for daily financial transactions like payments and remittances.
38% of survey participants showed interest in receiving cryptocurrency as a credit card or loyalty programme reward, while 42% expressed interest in using cryptocurrency to pay for products or services. Also, 34% of respondents want to send money to friends or family using cryptocurrency.
More conventional financial institutions, like banks, payment providers, and wallet providers, were strongly desired to enter the cryptocurrency ecosystem last year. This enthusiasm hasn’t diminished as seen by the fact that 75% of respondents said they would be likely or very likely to buy cryptocurrency via their primary bank if it were offered.
This represents a 12% increase over the results from the previous year, highlighting the growing consumer desire to integrate cryptocurrency into their regular financial lives.
