New research commissioned by Luno shows there is a great deal of interest among South Africans in owning at least one cryptocurrency. More than half of respondents said they were interested in buying a cryptocurrency like bitcoin, researchers found.
Kantar TNS conducted the research in October 2018 across 10 countries. It found that more than 80% of South African consumers recognise cryptocurrencies as an investment class and are prepared to hold it over the long term.
But there are also concerns, with 48% of South African respondents saying they are concerned about losing money when using cryptocurrencies due to problems like phishing scams. Using non-trusted exchanges was also a worry.
“Greater stability in the price of cryptocurrencies was only the third highest factor (39%), which influenced confidence in the new technology among South African respondents,” Luno said.
“Bitcoin is still the most widely known cryptocurrency worldwide, including South Africa, followed by ethereum, despite the rapid rise of new alternative coins such as ripple and dash,” it said.
Almost a third (29%) of those surveyed owned a cryptocurrency, with 53% interesting in buying digital coins. Only 18% declared no interest in owning a crypto asset.
Of the respondents who already own a cryptocurrency, 83% see it as an investment. Only 23% use crypto for online transactions and 12% to transfer money to friends and family.
Profitable
Forty percent of respondents agreed that cryptocurrencies are a safe investment, with 61% deeming it profitable. Three-quarters would like to use cryptocurrencies in a shop or online store.
Interestingly, 80% of South African male respondents were familiar with the subject, versus just 58% for women.
They survey used computer-assisted Web interviewing techniques. Respondents from 10 countries were selected with over a thousand participants in each country, all of whom were at least 18 years old.
Kantar balanced each sample across key demographics, including age, gender, income, geographical region, education level, domestic status and class self-identification.
The countries that were included in the research were South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, France, Ireland, Romania, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and the UK. — (c) 2018 NewsCentral Media
