| Title: | Bitcoin Awareness and Usage in Canada |
| : | |
| Authors: | Christopher Sean Henry |
| Edition statement: | 2017-12 |
| Publisher: | S.N., 2017 |
| Series: | Bank of Canada/Staff Working Paper/Document de travaildu personnel2017-56, num. 12 |
| Size: | 36 p. |
| Languages: | English |
| Descriptors: |
[Eurovoc] FINANCE > financial institutions and credit > credit policy > cost of borrowing > interest [Eurovoc] FINANCE > monetary economics > money market > money > virtual currency [Eurovoc] GEOGRAPHY > America > North America > Canada [JEL] E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E4 - Money and Interest Rates |
| Tags: | bank notes ; digital currencies ; econometric and statistical methods ; Bitcoin |
| Abstract: | There has been tremendous discussion of Bitcoin, digital currencies and FinTech. However, there is limited empirical evidence of Bitcoin’s adoption and usage. We propose a methodology to collect a nationally representative sample using the Bitcoin Omnibus Survey (BTCOS) to track the ubiquity and usage of Bitcoin in Canada. We find that about 64 percent of Canadians have heard of Bitcoin, but only 2.9 percent own it. We also find that awareness of Bitcoin is strongly associated with men and those with college or university education: additionally, Bitcoin awareness is more concentrated among unemployed individuals. On the other hand, Bitcoinownership is associated with younger age groups and a high-school education. Furthermore, we construct a test of Bitcoin characteristics to gauge the level of knowledge held by respondents who were aware of Bitcoin, including actual owners. We find that knowledge is positively correlated withBitcoin adoption. We attempt to reconcile the difference in awareness and ownership by decomposing the transactionaland store-of-value motivesfor holding Bitcoin. Finally, we conclude with some suggestionsto improve future surveys on digital currency, in particular, to achieve precise estimates from the hard-to-reach population of digital currency users. |
| Axe de recherche : | Financement du développement |
| Link for e-copy: | https://hal.uca.fr/hal-03182314 |
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