One in six Australians (17%) own cryptocurrency, with the total value of their holdings nearly $8 billion, as per Finder’s Consumer Sentiment Tracker on the state of cryptocurrency in Australia, August 2021.

The survey conducted by Qualtrics led on monthly basis of 1000 nationally representatives Aussies. The full report of the Finder Consumer Sentiment Tracker was posted on Thursday.

According to the Finder’s Cryptocurrency survey conducted between January to June 2021, the most popular cryptocurrency in the country remains Bitcoin, with 9% of Australians currently holding it. Around 8% of Aussies indicated that they own Ethereum, 5% own Dogecoin, while Bitcoin Cash is held by 4% of the population.

The proportion of Bitcoin consumers grew to 52% among Gen Z respondents. Whereas Gen X are also likely to own cryptocurrency (18%). Additionally, 50% of all respondents indicated that they believe Bitcoin is a legitimate investment.

Men (23%) were twice as likely as women (11%) to own crypto. However, the trends favor women, with the proportion of women owning crypto increasing from just 7% in January, while the proportion of men fell from 29%.

One quarter (24%) of Aussie holders said they purchased crypto simply “because it’s going up.” This figure fell from 45% in January. Around 49% of respondents aren’t interested in crypto at all, responding that “nothing would make me want to invest in cryptocurrency,” while 32% of crypto abstainers indicated that they would “rather buy shares or have money in savings.”

Another significant barrier to entry for Australians is difficulty in understanding how crypto works. 28% responded that they would invest in cryptocurrency if they understood how it all worked, while 18% said they would invest if they understood how to actually invest in it.

Finder's research was highlighted earlier in the year when it reported that 56% of Australians incorrectly believe Elon Musk is the founder of Bitcoin as Tesla CEO’s tweets coincide with Bitcoin prices. More than half of Australians (52%) tend to get news from social media platforms like Twitter.

Besides social media, cryptocurrency trading apps influence investing in crypto. Finder’s data shows 15% of Australians already have an app that lets them trade crypto and a further 12% intend to get one.

Joyashree Dey

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA