Digital currency awareness in UK spiked since 2019: FCA

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its Cryptoasset Consumer Research 2020 report, which was commissioned to gain insight into the size of the digital asset market in the United Kingdom, as well as to identify potential risks that investing in digital currency may have on the population. Here are some of the financial regulator’s key findings.

What the FCA discovered

The most significant discovery in the FCA’s Cryptoasset Consumer Research 2020 is that digital currency awareness in the U.K. has significantly increased since 2019. The previous year’s consumer research report found that 58% of the individuals surveyed had never heard of digital currency before; however, this 2020, the FCA found that only 28% of the individuals surveyed had not heard of digital currency.

The FCA’s research also found that roughly 3.86% of the U.K.’s population, which equals out to about 1.9 million people, own digital currency. Of the 1.9 million digital currency owners in the U.K., about 75% of them own less than £1,000 (about $1,200) of digital currency. The report also discovered that the average amount of digital currency owned is about £260 worth (about $320).

Of all the digital currency owners in the U.K., 47% say they invested in digital currency because they saw it as “a gamble that could make or lose them money.”

What might come as a surprise is that a majority of digital asset owners in the U.K. are not purchasing digital currency from a broker, exchange, or over-the-counter the country. According to the research, 83% of the individuals surveyed purchased their digital currency through a non-U.K. based exchange.

How are people learning about digital currency?

According to the FCA’s research, more and more individuals in the U.K. are learning digital currency through various media outlets.

The research showed an increase in individuals learning of digital currency through the media and online news compared to 2019. In addition, fewer individuals learned of digital currency from friends/family compared to 2019. 

Although the number of residents who own digital assets is small relative to the U.K.’s population, awareness of digital currency in the U.K. is indefinitely on the rise. According to the research, marketing efforts are to thank for this increase in awareness. Marketing channels are increasingly becoming the avenue where individuals are first learning of digital currency.

The FCA’s Cryptoasset Consumer Research 2020 report is full of insights regarding U.K. resident’s attitudes toward digital currency. You can find the FCA’s full research report by clicking here.