The survey showed that the proportion of people who regret buying cryptocurrencies soared to 77%, up from 68% last year.

A recent study shows that Canadians are less enthusiastic about cryptocurrency investments than they were the year before. In addition, they are now less willing to consider cryptocurrencies as an important factor in the current economy or predict their future importance.

On November 29, the OSC released its “2023 Cryptoasset Survey” conducted in late May in partnership with Ipsos. The survey, which covered 2,360 Canadians representing a diverse cross-section of the population in terms of gender, age, and region, revealed widespread skepticism about cryptocurrencies in the country.

Survey findings

Cryptocurrency ownership among Canadians has declined over the past year, from 13% in 2022 to 10% in 2023. Demographically, the majority of these crypto owners are likely to be males aged 25-44, have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and work full-time.

The percentage of Canadians who can provide a basic definition of cryptocurrency has increased from 51% in 2022 to 54% in 2023. However, the percentage of Canadians who believe that cryptocurrency “will play a key role in the future” has decreased from 49% to 34% in 2022.

Among the respondents, 77% of crypto asset owners regretted buying crypto assets more than a year ago, compared to 68% of respondents.

In both 2023 and 2022, the main reason for buying cryptocurrencies was their usefulness as a speculative investment or gambling. However, the number of cryptocurrency owners who purchased digital assets as a long-term investment has dropped from 29% in 2022 to 20% in 2023.

Cryptocurrency trading exchanges remain the most common way to acquire BTC and alts, with 52% of owners reporting having used such platforms, a figure that has not changed from 2022. A total of 19% of owners purchased crypto assets through decentralized exchanges, 16% acquired them through mining or staking, 14% acquired them for free, 14% through token generation events or initial offerings, and 14% through friends, family, or colleagues.

Compared to 2022, a higher percentage of crypto assets were acquired through decentralized exchanges or ATMs, while a lower percentage were acquired through friends, family, or colleagues.

The report states that the trend of buying through DEX or ATM is mainly influenced by the 18-34 year old group, who are more inclined to do so compared to 2022. In 2023, 25% of people bought crypto assets through DEX, up from 18% in 2022. In addition, 15% of users obtained crypto assets through ATM in 2023, compared to 8% in 2022.

Meanwhile, only 15% of this age group will have acquired crypto assets through friends, family or colleagues in 2023, down from 25% in 2022.

Most Canadians not interested in CBDCs

The pessimism reflected in the report could be attributed to the specific timing of the study, when the cryptocurrency market was under significant bearish pressure. However, Canadians also appear to be less enthusiastic about CBDCs.

The Bank of Canada collected feedback from 89,424 Canadians from a variety of groups, and the latest survey results show that the vast majority of people are opposed to the central bank exploring and issuing a digital Canadian dollar. Concerns about potential privacy violations and preference for existing payment methods are very prominent, with 85% of people saying they would not use a digital Canadian dollar. #加拿大  #加密投资