Analyzing Block’s “Bitcoin: Knowledge and Perceptions” Pt 2.- Awareness

Let’s start the second round of “Bitcoin: Knowledge and Perceptions,” a new report by Block based on a massive survey. Yesterday, we kicked off the festivities by, among other things, discussing income and inclusion as related to bitcoin. Today’s topics are knowledge and awareness. Does doing the work and learning about bitcoin make a difference? Is there a relationship between knowledge and optimism about the network? 

That’s what we’re here to find out, but first. About the methodology, Block says:

“The Block Bitcoin Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among more than 9,500 nationally representative adults aged 18+ in three regions: 2,375 in the Americas, 4,360 in EMEA, and 2,860 in APAC, including an oversample to ensure 100 bitcoin owners per region, between January 10 and January 28, 2022, using an email invitation and an online survey.”

Anyway, let’s get into the surprising and revealing statistics already.

BTC price chart for 06/02/2022 on Gemini | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

Block’s Report On: Knowledge and Optimism

Knowledge is power. As per the report, “people who have knowledge about cryptocurrencies overwhelmingly have a positive outlook about bitcoin’s future.” However, with great power comes great responsibility. So, “nearly a quarter of those who rate their knowledge of cryptocurrencies as “fair to expert” remain skeptical of bitcoin’s future.” 

Once again, the country the respondent is from turns out to be the differentiating factor. “Nigeria, India, Vietnam, and Argentina have the highest rates of optimism about bitcoin’s future as well as the highest claimed levels of cryptocurrency knowledge more broadly.” That’s interesting, considering in the first half of the report we learned that Argentina feels included in the bitcoin community while India doesn’t. And here they are, both on this optimism list.

The other differentiating factor, of course, is money. “Additionally, higher-income people are more optimistic than lower-income people (46% vs. 37%), and this is true in every region.” This is not at all surprising, but consider this: “that optimism gap disappears completely if you remove those who say they don’t know anything about cryptocurrencies.” So, once again, it all comes back to knowledge.

Reasons For Not Buying, According To The Report

Education is the key. “Not knowing enough about bitcoin is far and away the most common reason not to buy it, but cybersecurity, price volatility, and an uncertain regulatory outlook are also commonly cited reasons.” Those are all fair reasons, but, what respondents don’t seem to be taking into account are the risks of remaining involved with the traditional system. That’s the real scary prospect.  

In any case, it all comes back to knowledge once again. “Someone’s self-assessed understanding of cryptocurrencies is the strongest predictor of whether or not they’re likely to buy bitcoin in the next year.” That basically means that education cures all of the people’s fears and doubts about bitcoin. It doesn’t specifically say that, but come on. Education is the key and cures fears.

Block’s Report On: Awareness

Surprising no one, bitcoin is the undisputed king. According to the report, “awareness of bitcoin is higher than that of any other cryptocurrency globally — by far — with 88% of adults surveyed having heard of bitcoin specifically.” The bitcoin brand is already a monster, and the message and image keep spreading all over the known universe. At this point, it’s hard to name 20 bigger worldwide brands.

Of course, ETH keeps second place. “The cryptocurrency with the next highest level of awareness is Ethereum, a distant second at 43%.” Notice that, even with the DeFi and NFT booms, bitcoin awareness is more than double that of Ethereum.

That’s it for Bitcoinist analysis of Block’s “Bitcoin: Knowledge and Perceptions” report. Check the original document for extra data, aesthetically pleasing design, and useful graphics. 

Featured Image: screenshot from Block's report | Charts by TradingView