Anyone for a nice game of Bitcoin?
One in seven Britons believe that the cryptocurrency Bitcoin is actually a festive board game, a new study has found.
The study was carried out by betting operator, Lottoland, which launched the first Bitcoin lotto jackpot on Monday, 18 December and has a jackpot of 1,000 bitcoins (estimated value of €14.2m).
In total, 1,848 adults in the UK were polled, 79% of whom were able to correctly identify the digital currency.
However, 13% believed that it was a board game on sale in various stores during the lead up to Christmas, 4% thought it was a chocolate bar, 3% said that it was an arcade game and 1% had Bitcoin down as a celebrity baby name.
Those who were able to identify Bitcoin correctly were asked if they currently or previously owned any shares in the bitcoin market, to which only 2% said they had. 53% admitted that they had the opportunity to purchase bitcoin, but turned down the offer.
Only 41% said they would still want to invest in Bitcoin right now, but they couldn’t currently afford it at its inflated price. 34% believe that it would be a mistake, with the main reason being that “it’s heading towards a huge crash”, while 25% admitted that they were unsure because they did not have enough information on the volatile market.
Finally, all respondents were asked if the hype surrounding Bitcoin is still something they would be taking an interest in moving forward, with the majority (63%) saying that they would be.
Commenting on the results, a spokesperson from Lottoland said: “Whilst Bitcoins have been around for a fair few years now, over the past couple of months its status has been seriously elevated amongst the general public due to a huge surge in value.
“It’s clear that the vast majority of Britons are aware of their impact on the financial industry, even if some are clearly still yet to catch on.”
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