Pan-African financial services company Old Mutual Limited has released[1] an annual Savings and Investment Monitor survey for South Africa[2], which polled respondents on awareness of and attitude toward cryptocurrencies in the country.
The recent study revealed that respondents generally have a positive regard of digital currencies, with 38 percent of respondents agreeing with the statement “I wish I had invested in [crypto] before” and 71 percent agreeing that “You can make a lot of money with them.” However, 43 percent of respondents agreed with the statement “They are bad news, like a pyramid scheme” and 53 percent said they do not understand how cryptocurrencies work.
In terms of overall awareness, 40 percent of respondents answered that they were aware to varying degrees, while 60 percent said they were not aware of cryptocurrencies.
In comparison with Europe[3], Australia[4], and the U.S.[5], a survey[6] conducted by a research company Ipsos on behalf of ING Bank B.V. revealed that 66 percent of Europeans had heard of cryptocurrency, while 33 percent agreed with the statement that crypto is the “future of spending online.” The share of awareness of crypto is equal to or exceeds 50 percent in every surveyed country, with the highest rate in Austria[7] (79 percent) and Poland[8] (77 percent). In the U.S., 57 percent of respondents have heard of cryptocurrency.
While the general public in South Africa shows a somewhat positive stance toward digital currency as an alternative form of investment, the country’s central bank chose[9] to call digital currencies “cyber-tokens” because they “don’t meet the requirements of money.” The bank established a fintech task force
