Today is November 11th, 2022. As you may know, the crypto industry is called to pay attention to the so-called “Crypto Literacy Month” these weeks. Indeed, there are some interesting surveys being held, lectures and speeches being delivered, new articles and overviews being published now. For us, at Evercode Lab, every month is a Crypto Literacy Month. That is why we try to cover the most important crypto phenomena with our analysis and constantly track the most far-reaching crypto developments. We are not alone. Most of our colleagues from other companies do the same. 

What is noteworthy in this respect, however, is that the latest figures show: a lot is left to be done! 

YouGov Survey

This post is intended to communicate the most important findings of the recent survey made possible by YouGov in collaboration with the Crypto Literacy project. The key rationale behind this study was to find out how much BTC-aware Americans — US residents, Mexicans, and Brazilians — actually know. 

The questionnaire consisted of 17 questions covering such topics as crypto in general, BTC, DeFi, blockchain as a whole, stablecoins, mining processes, types of crypto-wallets, non-fungible tokens, and respondents’ overall attitudes to digital currencies. 

Results

The outcomes generate mixed feelings. As we all remember, crypto was supposed to liberate people, bring them closer to finance, and instill previously unseen trust.

As Satoshi Nakamoto wrote back in 2009, “I’ve developed a new open-source P2P e-cash system called Bitcoin. It’s completely decentralized, with no central server or trusted parties, because everything is based on crypto proof instead of trust.”

However, if we want BTC to become a full-fledged legal tender in some countries at least, transparency and trust may not be enough. It also takes deeper knowledge to make the best of crypto. And here is still a problem.

According to the survey, the situation is as follows:

  • Roughly 98% of participants didn’t manage to provide correct answers for 17 very simple questions
  • Worse than that, 4 in 10 participants failed “to answer more than half of the questions”

Other key points presented by the survey one needs to take into account include: 

  • Cryptocurrencies haven’t reached their main goals of “financial inclusion”. That is to say, a typical crypto owner is still, predominantly, a young and wealthy male, which supposes higher education levels as well. At the same time, digital assets are supposed to eventually cover all strata, including senior citizens, women, less educated segments, and other non-privileged groups.  
  • Ownership of cryptocurrencies is the best mentor you can imagine. As long as a respondent possesses some digital assets, they are more likely to understand next-gen fintech better.
  • Most people still fail to understand how Bitcoins are “generated” and how their price is determined, i.e. by the pure balance of supply and demand.
  • In the US, the older a crypto owner is, the more likely he or she is to purchase BTC as means of investment and saving. The younger such an owner is, the more likely he or she is to use it to buy goods and services.

Evercode Lab’s Perspective 

We at Evercode Lab view these findings as ambivalent. On the one hand, it is a pity that many people still do not grasp the basics of crypto and cannot unleash the full potential of digital assets.

On the other hand, do many people actually understand how fiat money works, all those details related to emission, circulation, central banks, inflation rates, etc? Not to so many, in fact, as we may guess.

That is why we, the crypto industry should not complain. What we should do is to continue building intuitive, easy-to-navigate, and usable solutions with needed information and hints. That is how we all can help crypto owners understand their assets better!

P.S.

By the way, everyone on the Internet can take this quiz. Feel free to test your knowledge!