Crypto Adoption Trends: Majority Owns Bitcoin and Uses Binance

The Fourth Industrial Revolution provides opportunities to help everyone, from all income groups and nations, to harness converging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. Among one of the evident use cases of blockchain are cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that mainly work as a form of virtual currency. Since the inception of Bitcoin in 2009, there has been a significant rise in cryptocurrency users. Alongside this, there are more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies are listed on various crypto information websites. Notably, the most popular ones on the market being Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tether, Litecoin, and a wide range of decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens.

Highlights

• 50% of the respondents own Bitcoin, with the majority investing less than $1,000 and holding the asset for a span of one year.
• The top five cryptocurrencies that people are willing to invest in or hold in the future are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Tether (USDT), and Litecoin (LTC).
• Around 60% of the respondents made profits on their cryptocurrency investments.
• More than half of the total respondents agree that cryptocurrency is a reliable investment means like gold, stocks, or commodities.
• Anonymity, safety and security, and profitability emerged as the top advantages of cryptocurrency investments.
• Over 70% think that the Bitcoin price will reach $20,000 – $40,000.
• Binance (52.85%), Huobi Global (19.22%), Coinbase (10.5%), and Kraken (3.35%) are the typically-used crypto exchange platforms.
• More than half of the respondents (55%) experienced financial damage to their crypto assets while using a crypto exchange platform.
• By and large, the most satisfying crypto exchange events are staking, airdrop, and trading.

In this Real Research survey, we aim to gather data that will help us learn the state of cryptocurrency adoption, in general. With 15,000 participants from almost 80 countries around the world, we have thoroughly analyzed their responses and come up with comprehensive insights about their cryptocurrency investments and preferences.

Targeting both males and females, the greater share of responses from this survey is generated from men (85%). Thus, we can infer that men are more interested and inclined to share their opinions regarding cryptocurrency. Single young adults aged 19-29 dominated the survey, showing an active involvement and curiosity among millennials towards this form of digital asset.

Bitcoin Remains as Top Crypto Investment

Bitcoin (BTC) is the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization and real-life value. In this Real Research survey, it is unsurprising that half of the respondents’ own BTC in a higher amount. As of now, this makes Bitcoin the top cryptocurrency investment among crypto users.

Following Bitcoin are Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Tether (USDT), and Litecoin (LTC). Respondents own altcoins such as TNC Coin (TNC), ABBC Coin (ABBC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Binance Coin (BNB), Chainlink (LINK), Cardano (ADA), and Polkadot (DOT) in lesser amounts.

On the contrary, respondents who invest in cryptocurrency are not willing to spend a lot of money on their investments. Generally, the crypto market is known to be volatile which may be an influential factor for the crypto holders. The majority of the respondents invest less than $1,000 (36.77%) and less than $10,000 (23.37%) on their preferred cryptocurrency.

Others showed responses that point them out as possible ‘crypto whales’ or those who own cryptocurrency in high volume. Those who are investing more than $10,000 in crypto amount to 18.47% of the respondents’ population while 11.81% are investing more than $100,000.

On the other hand, over 5,000 respondents have been holding their cryptocurrencies within 1-12 months, or simply within a year’s time. New cryptocurrency users who hold their assets for less than a month (23.30%) have also been revealed in the survey.

Significantly, 30% of the respondents are considered as long-term crypto holders, varying between 1-5 years. Besides that, a small percentage of the respondents (5.39%) admit to holding their cryptocurrency assets for more than five years.

Top 5 Cryptocurrencies to Invest in: BTC, ETH, XRP, USDT, LTC

In parallel to being the mostly-acquired cryptocurrencies of the respondents, BTC, ETH, XRP, USDT, and LTC are also the top preferences of crypto users to invest in or hold in the future.

To summarize, 40% have chosen Bitcoin, almost 20% picked Ethereum, around 15% selected Ripple, roughly 10% would invest in Tether, while less than 5% will buy Litecoin going forward. The rest of the altcoins have been preferred by fewer people.

With the longstanding reputation of Bitcoin in the crypto market and with the rising number of merchants, businesses, and individuals utilizing this asset, its value in the future is expected to grow higher in the coming years. Ethereum, as well, has introduced the first phase of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrades that aims to improve its network’s scalability and security. Thus, Ethereum users are anticipating a rise in the value of the said asset.

Additionally, Ripple aims to build a more inclusive financial system where more people and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) have access to better financial services.

Cryptocurrency as Investment: Anonymous, Safe, Reliable, and Profitable

Wanting to know how they get to know about cryptocurrency for the first time, most of the respondents answered through an internet search. This includes browsing through Google or Youtube for different types of content to know more about the topic.

One of the most common sources of cryptocurrency awareness also comes from the word-of-mouth of friends and acquaintances (18.41%). Similarly, different forms of media and publications such as books (17.07%) as well as news and advertisements (16.73%) were also the reasons why the respondents found out about cryptocurrency.

As knowledge and awareness about cryptocurrency grow, the public sentiment on whether cryptocurrency is a reliable investment means like gold, stocks, or commodities is broadly positive. More than half of the respondents (57%) have answered “Yes” implying that they agree that it is a reliable investment means. The remaining percentage have either decided that they do not find cryptocurrency reliable (21%) or they are not sure about it (22%).

Compared to other modes of investment, cryptocurrency as an investment has various advantages. Top of the list is anonymity (40.5%), safety and security (30.28%), and profitability (13.3%). The respondents agree that these three benefits encouraged them to invest in cryptocurrency.

Around 60% Made Profits on Their Cryptocurrency Investments

In fact, around 60% of the respondents have declared that they have made profits on their cryptocurrency investments. The varying factor is that 32.48% are still holding cryptocurrencies and made profits while selling some of them while 26.59% have sold everything and made their profits.

24% are still waiting for their owned crypto asset’s price to rise, thus holding them still on their crypto wallets. Less than 10% have admitted to being in the loss zone which means that while they are holding their crypto assets, they sold some to reduce further risks.

Considering the Real Research survey results for this question, cryptocurrency seems like a very lucrative investment means for users. The probability of earning profits appears to be higher than losing profits, considering that you are trading and holding your crypto assets at your own discretion.

Leading Crypto Exchange Platforms: Binance, Huobi, Coinbase, Kraken

Real Research asked if they are using any crypto exchanges for trading. Over 70% of the respondents answered “Yes.” In line with this, among the typically-used crypto exchange platforms of users are Binance (52.9%), Huobi Global (19.2%), Coinbase (10.5%), and Kraken (3.4%).

Firstly, Binance has approximately $10 million worth of trading volume daily. It also leads as the top crypto exchange by trust score. secondly, Huobi Global records around $4 million worth of trading volume.  Following then is Coinbase with roughly $3 million worth of trading volume. Lastly, Kraken with almost $1 million worth of trading volume. All estimated values are based on a 24-hour window.

In addition, crypto users choose their preferred crypto exchanges based on higher trading volumes (44.12%). Also reliable security technology (24.16%), various kinds of platform features (12.48%), and fiat support (7.11%). They also consider which crypto exchange can they easily sign up to and use on a regular basis (6.33%).

More Than Half Are ‘Satisfied’ Yet Faced Issues on Crypto Exchanges

Real Research asked if they are satisfied with their preferred crypto exchange platform’s deposit and withdrawal service. The majority (58%) noted “Yes, I am satisfied.” However, they have encountered issues regarding these services.

Over 30% responded that their crypto exchange does not support fiat deposit and withdrawal services.  These include euros, US and Canadian dollars, Japanese yen, and Korean won.

With the same percentage, respondents also experienced slow processing speed for deposits and withdrawals. This is due to the manual process of crypto exchange administrators. Almost 25% also encountered complicated verification procedures that hinder a smooth deposit and withdrawal of their crypto assets.

Aside from these, the majority of respondents (56.4%) have also experienced financial damage to their crypto assets. This is either through wallet hacking or while trading on crypto exchanges. In spite of this, over 30% said that they have not experienced any crypto-asset losses on exchange platforms. Moreover, over 10% disclosed that they do not trade on any cryptocurrency exchange at all.

In accordance with this, crypto exchanges are responsible enough to take responsibility and appropriate actions with regard to crypto users’ issues. More than half of the respondents agreed that appropriate actions and compensations were taken by their crypto exchange. Although, a significant percentage of over 30% say that they did not receive any support or compensation for their financial losses.

With these results, we can somehow conclude that crypto exchanges are still trusted by many crypto users. Despite encountering technical or financial issues, the majority are still confident that crypto exchanges are reliable platforms for cryptocurrency trading. Having said that, crypto exchanges should work on their crisis management in case of any hacking or downtime issues on the users’ side.

Most Rewarding Crypto Exchange Events: Staking, Airdrop, Trading

To attract more users and retain existing ones, crypto exchanges hold various events under their control. Over half of the total respondents have participated in a crypto exchange event.  Meanwhile, almost 30% haven’t and roughly 20% don’t use any crypto exchange at all.

The most satisfying and rewarding crypto exchange events for the respondents are staking (31.1%), airdrop (26.3%), and trading (24.4%). Staking is one of the easiest ways to make passive income with your crypto assets. On different crypto exchanges, you can stake your cryptos and earn rewards as a result.

Positive Outlook on Cryptocurrency’s General Adoption

In summary, we can wrap up that cryptocurrency’s general adoption is headed in the right direction. In fact, the percentage of those who do not own cryptocurrencies and those who do not plan to invest in cryptocurrency in the future is far less than those who do.

This shows a positive outlook that people will utilize cryptocurrencies more in the coming years. As more businesses and retailers accept them as part of their operations. Without a doubt, this will lead to the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. When this happens, innovation will be on to the next level. Moreover, the early adopters and users will be glad that they have decided to invest in the future.

Real Research’s decentralized research system also utilizes cryptocurrency as a bounty to incentivize survey participation. With this process, Real Research contributes to the progressive shift towards blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.