A survey has found that 71 per cent of the UK public would not use existing cryptocurrencies and think that bitcoin will either decrease in value or collapse over the next six months.
D-CYFOR could reveal following the publication of its crypto opinion tracker that scepticism in the UK towards the digital currencies still dominates, despite most of the top cryptos continuing to gain popularity.
The survey, which is based on the opinions of 1050 people across the UK, found that knowledge about cryptocurrencies has become widespread as 92 per cent of the participants was aware of the existence of bitcoin.
Matthew Newton, analyst at crypto platform eToro, said: “This shouldn't come as a huge suprise as cryptocurrencies are still in the budding stages of their development, and it remains a fairly misunderstood sector. But investors have to look at the bigger picture.”
“We are already seeing the market move towards maturity as businesses and financial institutions are increasingly turning their attention to cryptocurrencies and blockchain. As some of the fog around regulatory uncertainty begins to lift, we'd expect that to foster greater investor demand.”
It revealed that out of all the cryptocurrencies, bitcoin remains the most prominent investment asset among the group of people surveyed that actually had invested in cryptos, with bitcoin cash, ethereum and litecoin following behind it.
Read more: Study finds 68 per cent of crypto platforms fail to perform identity checks
Despite scepticism towards existing cryptos, 26 per cent of the participants revealed that if Amazon was to release its own crypto, they would use it to conduct transactions, followed by 19 per cent for Google, 17 per cent for Apple and 14 per cent for Facebook.
Crypto experts from finder.com predicted on Wednesday that bitcoin prices, now currently at $7,571 (£5,651), would almost double and reach $14,638 by December.
However, the prediction was adjusted because the end-of-year forecast from January, of bitcoin reaching $33,000 per coin, was labelled unrealistic.
James Lynch, chief executive of CastleCoin and part of finder.com's panel, said: “The expected influx of institutional money and increased adoption of cryptocurrency as a whole will likely lead to an increase in the value of bitcoin.”
“The market is moving towards a state of maturity, and it is unlikely we are going to see the explosive increase we witnessed last year.”
Read more: Experts say bitcoin will fail to meet earlier end-of-year price predictions
