48% of Brazilians believe Brazil should adopt bitcoin as their currency, according to a survey

We interviewed 2,700 people over 18 years of age from seven countries besides Brazil: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Venezuela and Mexico. To implement the questionnaire, an online panel on the Toluna platform was used.

“Brazilians have been the biggest advocate of crypto recognition in the region, with 56% supporting El Salvador’s approach and 48% saying they want Brazil to embrace it as well,” the study says.

Regarding the impact of cryptocurrencies on global trade, 32% of Brazilians indicated that they should bring the world’s economies closer together, while 31% spoke of facilitating the international exchange of funds.

30% of interviewees believe they can eliminate local currencies. Each interviewer can choose up to 3 answers in this question.

Among the lowest-voted alternatives are an increase in tax evasion for the richest (12%), making travel easier (13%) and increased crime and money laundering (13%).

Despite the desire to adopt Bitcoin as money, Brazilians still think the country is way behind other countries when it comes to the crypto market as a whole, with 35% of interviews taking this view.

Another 31% said that Brazil is ahead, while 23% believe that in the coming years we will have more users in this market. 4% of respondents believe that it is a topic that has no future in the country. 5% did not mention any of the alternatives, and 2% mentioned other answers.

The survey also heard from respondents about the cryptocurrencies they know, with Brazil recording the population that knows the most about Bitcoin (92% said they do), Litecoin (30%) and Dogecoin (16%), second only to Argentina in terms of knowledge of Ethereum.

Reasons to invest in cryptocurrency

The survey also asked respondents about their reasons for investing in cryptocurrencies, and for Brazilians the main factor was portfolio diversification, with 55% of the responses.

Participants can choose up to three answers and in second place was “Protect my assets from inflation and financial instability,” at 39%. However, this was the main answer for Argentines with 58%.

Meanwhile, for 37% of Brazilian participants, investing in cryptocurrency keeps pace with the technological trend. Indeed, 28% said they would get paid for work done by foreign companies.

They also complete the list of reasons: make money transfers at lower costs (19%); Sending and receiving money from family and friends abroad (13%); And do not invest in cryptocurrencies (12%). 2% said other reasons.

In the research report, Sherlock highlights that “Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) issued in Brazil allow people to invest in cryptocurrencies in a regulated manner, allowing more conservative investors to experience this market.

The document also says: “The three Latin American regulatory sandboxes are Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, which are countries that are open to experimentation and innovation using blockchain and crypto.”

The company also remembers that with the price of cryptocurrencies on the rise and reaching historic highs, it is only natural that more people in Latin America want to browse this wave of cryptocurrencies. “Education and user experience remain the main obstacle to mass adoption, but when the economy is at risk, adoption of new technologies becomes more attractive,” Sherlock asks.

Investors’ fears

Although Brazilians who say they do not invest in cryptocurrencies have fallen from 33% in the 2020 study to 12% today, there are still many factors that explain the fact that people are not investing in these assets.

For 42% of respondents, the main issue is concern about the safety of funds invested in cryptocurrencies, which indicates greater concerns about news of scams involving bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Already 37% cited market instability and volatility as the main reason for not using cryptocurrencies today, while 33% said they did not have enough money to invest.

Two other highly cited items have to do with knowledge of the asset class, with 26% saying they don’t know enough to invest in cryptocurrencies, while 22% of respondents said they don’t think they have the technical skills to do so.

On the other hand, for 45% of Brazilians, reading and understanding more about cryptocurrencies is the main factor that would give them more confidence to invest in this market.

In addition, other points that detract from investor confidence also relate to platforms, with 39% lacking more reliable companies to invest in, while 36% indicated the need for an easy-to-use platform that does not require much knowledge. specialized.

The report states that Brazil currently has around 1.4 million registered crypto users, with data from Distrito Fintech showing that there are more than 180 active blockchain-related startups, 80% of which have been created in the past five years.