Fear and favouring of digital currency. Digimentality - Fear and favouring of digital currency is a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), commissioned by Crypto.com based on a survey of 3,048 people conducted in January and February 2020. Some key findings about digital payments, consumer trust and barriers to wider adoption are highlighted here.

1. DIGIMENTALITY
Based on research by:
More than 50% of my purchases and/or transactions)
Less than 50% of purchases and/or transactions)
Never (and don’t plan to use)
Never (but plan to use in the next 12 months)
Don’t know
(Payment method use frequency)
Barheight=popularityaverage
How people spend cashlessly
Not until these points of resistance are overcome.
A Developing Story
Fear and favouring
of digital currency
Based on research by:
Digimentality - Fear and favouring of digital currency is a report from The Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU), commissioned by Crypto.com based on a survey of 3,048 people
conducted in January and February 2020. Some key findings about digital payments,
consumer trust and barriers to wider adoption are highlighted here.
A cashless society?
32%
36%
17%
12%
4%
16%
31%
29%
15%
9%
Mobile
payments
36%
48%
8%
6%
3%
Online
pay
service
Credit/
debit
card
Stored
-value
card
42%
55%
3%
1%
1%
Regular
cash
49%
42%
4%
3%
2%
Online
banking
15%
24%
33%
20%
7%
Digital
or crypto
currencies
69%
25%
2%
2%
1%
About half of survey respondents came from developed economies and half from emerging markets. About 6 in 10
respondents were between 18 and 38 years old with the rest 39 years or older. About half reported annual salary as
above median and half were below. Various educational backgrounds are represented, with the largest numbers of
respondents (4 in 10) having a college degree. All respondents had bought a product or service over the past 12
months using some kind of digital payment.
In what do we trust?
Survey "trustworthiness" rating for types of digital currencies vs cash
Weighted average survey
scores on a scale from
1 (least trustworthy)
to 5 (most trustworthy)
1
4
23
Those that have owned, used or are aware of decentralised digital currencies
Cryptocurrency familiarity is high
100
Digital currency issued
by a government
Digital currency issued
by a technology firm
Digital currency issued
by a financial firm
Decentralised digital currency
such as a cryptocurrency
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Awarenessofdigital currencytypes
85%
Average
awareness
Developed economies Developing economies
9%
19%
79%
23%
41%
92%
85%
55%
65%
55%
On a scale from 1 (not trustworthy at all) to 5 (completely trustworthy),
only 9% of respondents rate cryptocurrencies as a 5. But an even
bigger portion say they don’t know.
Fear
38%
25%
26%
11%
Not trustworthy (1-2) Balanced (3) Trustworthy (4-5) Don’t know
?
Typically, in consumer surveys, the "don't know" option captures a small fraction of responses. But when it comes to digital
currencies, significant portions of respondents expressed uncertainty around trustworthiness of existing and hypothetical
options. Advanced economies showed higher rates of mistrust than in developing ones. Are developed nations at risk of
falling behind as more currency digitises? Many types of currencies are still experimental so attitudes are likely to change.
Developing...
vs Developed
Favouring
2.5x
Millennials...
vs Boomers + Gen x
2x
College or above...
vs High school or below
2.4 x
0
Cash
Digital currency issued by a government
Digital currency issued by a financial firm
Digital currency issued by a technology firm
Decentralised digital currency such as a cryptocurrency
4.4
3.7
3.3
3.2
2.7
Awareness
Ownership
Usage
Global consumers see
cryptocurrencies as
primarily used for
online purchases.
Top 5 uses for survey respondents
Primarily for online purchases/payments
General interest in it as a technology
Short term Investment (i.e. speculation)
Long term investment
Foreign exchange
34%
23%
22%
24%
24%
Respondents in developing-market countries, in younger age brackets, or with higher levels
of education showed more inclination to use a cryptocurrency
44%
32%
28%
25%
25%
25%
22%
18%
9%
6%1%
??
?
Use of
digital
currencies
is not well
understood
The
technology
is not
secure
There
are too
few
options
to use
digital
currencies
The
procedure
to
buy
digital
currencies
is too
complicated
It is
difficult
to know
where
to buy
digital
currencies
They are
mostly
used for
fraudulent
or illegal
transactions
There
is no
intrinsic
value
behind
digital
currencies
It requires
a secure
form of
personal
digital ID,
which
doesn’t
yet exist
It is
illegal to
purchase
some
digital
currencies
in my
country
Other
Don’t
know
Illegal to
purchase
Digital
ID
Low
value
Illegal
usage
Difficult
to buy
Complex
to buy
Lack of
options
Not
secure
Not
Understood
?