Romanian consumers are much more aware of Bitcoin than the European average

The latest results of an ING international survey among consumers in 13 European countries, Australia and USA, revealed that apart from Netherlands, Romania has the smallest precentage of people who don’t know what bitcoin is. Furthermore, percentage ot the Romanian people who said that they used bitcoin in the last 12 months is comparable to United Kingdom and France. That means we could talk about the same adoption rate of bitcoin among population.

Bitcoin, launched in 2009, is arguably the most high-profile of several digital currencies that have existed. However, few people in Europe see digital currencies – such as bitcoin – as “the future of spending online”, according to ING survey. Of people in Europe, 72% either disagree with that statement or do not have an opinion about it, a slight drop from 76% from the ING International Survey on Mobile Banking 2014. Turkey, Italy, Spain and Poland are among the countries where acceptance is highest. These countries also have a higher share which say they have used bitcoin in the past 12 months.

Bitcoin is arguably the most high profile digital currency and has been the topic of media attention, academic studies and the term was even added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online in August 2013. Despite this, use and awareness of the decentralised cryptocurrency remains low among most people in Europe. When asked if they have used bitcoin in the past 12 months, 26% of people in Europe say they have not and 49% say they don’t know what bitcoin is. Only 4% in Europe say they have used it in the last year.

In the past twelve months I …
Percent who answered „I have used bitcoin”, „I have not used bitcoin”, „I don’t know what bitcoin is”and „no opinion”.

Turkey is home to the highest share who say they have used bitcoin in the past 12 months, followed jointly by the United States and Italy, then Poland and Spain. When asked why they had used it, answers varied. An Austrian man, aged 33, wrote: “I found it interesting to concern myself with it (was curious after there were media reports about it again and again).” An Italian woman, 29, had an app that uses bitcoin to recharge her mobile phone. A French man, 51, wrote: “I had to buy things on the dark net.” A Dutch man, 74, received it as a gift. When others were asked why they did not use bitcoin, responses included an Australian woman, 69, who wrote, “I have heard bad publicity about it” and an American man, 30, who noted, “I have no idea how to access it”.

About 1.000 respondents were surveyed in each country apart from Luxembourg, with 500. The survey was conducted by Ipsos between 16 January and 2 February 2015 using Internet based polling.