One third of U.K. too baffled to buy bitcoin: survey

Nearly one-third of United Kingdom residents are interested in investing in cryptocurrencies but are too baffled by them to do it, according to a recent survey.

According to a Jan. 27 announcement by crypto payments firm Ziglu, 31% of U.K. residents are interested in investing in cryptocurrencies. But, 62% of this group have not bought crypto assets because they do not understand this market, with 45% adding that they do not know a safe way to acquire them. 

Just 14% of the U.K. residents surveyed have already invested in crypto assets. Of that group, 13% had no investment experience and 23% consider themselves novices. Another third of the respondents (32%) describe their investor experience as “competent.”

The firm’s founder and CEO Mark Hipperson commented:

“Our survey highlights the importance of financial inclusion, and that is why we will continue to spread the word not just about how crypto works but also how easy and safe it can be now to buy and sell.”

The study of 2,000 United Kingdom residents was commissioned by Ziglu and conducted by market research firm OnePoll. It revealed that 36% say they would need mainstream financial institutions to start offering cryptocurrencies to retail customers.

That will likely happen sooner rather than later, as PayPal president and CEO Dan Schulman said it would expand its cryptocurrency services beyond the U.S. in the first half of 2021. On Oct. 21, Schulamn announced that PayPay would support buying, selling and holding bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC) in the U.S. Crypto can also be spent at PayPal’s network of 26 million merchants worldwide.

With 325 million customers in 200 markets worldwide, Schulman made clear that he expects PayPal to take a lead in “mainstreaming” cryptocurrencies. 

“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, and rigorous security and compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption and interoperability” of bitcoin and other digital assets, he said.  

Interestingly, the Ziglu study also suggests that United Kingdom residents prefer investing in crypto assets over investing in property. When asked how they would invest £100, as many as 30% of the respondents chose crypto assets as one of their top three investment choices, while only 19% did the same for real estate.

Gold was just a tad more popular, ranking in the top three, with 31% of the study participants.