The more you know about Bitcoin, the more optimistic you are: Block survey

A survey from digital payment company Block Inc. has found that the higher respondents rated their own level of cryptocurrency knowledge, the more optimistic they are about the future of Bitcoin (BTC).

Block surveyed more than 9,500 people from the Americas (2,375), EMEA (4,360) and APAC (2,860) regions in January, ensuring to include 100 Bitcoin owners in each region for its 2022 Bitcoin Knowledge and Perceptions Report.

The report, released on Tuesday, shows a correlation between optimism and the likelihood of purchasing, and compared the result with the respondent’s self-identified level of knowledge.

Of those who identified as having fair to expert knowledge of crypto, 41% say they’re “very likely” to purchase Bitcoin in the next 12 months, compared with just 7.9% of those with “limited to no knowledge.”

Despite higher-income individuals having slightly more optimism for Bitcoin’s future than lower-income individuals, the lower-income countries of Nigeria, India, Vietnam and Argentina reported the highest rates of optimism and the highest claimed levels of cryptocurrency knowledge.

Education and promotion seem like the key to adoption as the biggest reason, as cited by 51% of respondents who said that not buying Bitcoin was because of a lack of knowledge. The second most cited reason was the potential risk of theft (32%) and the perception that BTC had too much price volatility (30%) came in third.

Lower income nations see the utility

The report details that individuals on lower incomes actually use Bitcoin practically, with more than 40% responding they’re most likely to buy it as an easy way to send money or purchase goods.

In comparison, higher-income people more often consider Bitcoin a way to make money (50%) or to diversify an investment portfolio (30%). However, around the same amount (39%) signaled purchasing goods was also a reason they would buy.

Respondents from countries reporting a higher level of income from remittances and lower per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) were more likely to cite a Bitcoin purchase as a good way to send money or purchase goods.

Block also reported a strong correlation between countries with high inflation rates to those who responded that Bitcoin was a “protection against inflation,” with 45% of Argentinian respondents using Bitcoin this way — the highest percentage of any country.

Related: Accessibility is the main barrier to crypto adoption — Here are the solutions

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, crypto adoption in Argentina is double the rate of other countries in the region, with many turning to Bitcoin attempting to hedge against an inflation rate of nearly 60%.

Overall and across regions, Bitcoin was the cryptocurrency that respondents were most aware of, with 88% saying they’ve heard of it, which is twice as many as the 43% who say they’ve heard of Ether (ETH).