A study conducted among smartphone users in Mexico revealed that, although there is evidence that people either fear to invest in cryptos or don’t know much about cryptocurrencies, there is also growing Mexican interest in the subject. In this sense, 46.1% of those who do not currently own digital assets or have never used them, expressed their willingness to acquire Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptos in the next six months.
The information is derived from a survey called the MX18 Cryptometer, which was conducted between May 22nd and June 5th, 2018, at the initiative of a group of firms related to the cryptocurrencies market in Mexico. For this study, data was collected through 1,416 interviews with mobile phone users.
Although the sample seems small as 64.7 million smartphone users live in Mexico, the goal of the study was to obtain the first indicators on the knowledge and general feeling of the population in relation with blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
The study found that 26.5% of respondents had already bought or used cryptocurrencies at some point. Also, the most appreciated cryptocurrency by Mexicans is Bitcoin (BTC), the leading digital asset in the market, about which more than 61% of the Mexican heard of.
Mexicans are more and more interested in cryptocurrencies
Mexicans are using their cryptocurrencies mainly for online purchases and payments (35.2%), as well as to maintain them and wait for their value to increase (32.5%). However, there is one group (20.5%) that is dedicated to obtaining short-term profits through the purchase and sale of digital assets.
On the other hand, of those who expressed interest in acquiring cryptos, 46.2% would do so aiming to maintain a balance waiting for its value to increase.
Among the results that pose challenges to the Mexican crypto community, 47.4% of those who said they were not interested in buying cryptos indicated that the reason is the fear of fraud. Likewise, 39% say they do not know about this topic, while 30.5% consider that the cryptocurrencies have no support.
The firms that promoted the MX18 Cryptometer study, Bitso, Fiinlab, Wisum and Psyma Latina, agreed that, in order to increase the cryptocurrency adoption across Mexico, it is necessary to encourage users to “move from interest to action.”
Also noteworthy, Mexico is a leading country in the Latin America regarding new financial technologies, known as FinTech companies. In fact, it already has a regulatory framework for this sector that was enacted during the Q1 2018.
