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Bitcoin price at record highs but are locals using the cryptocurrency?

For those that have been toying with the idea of investing in bitcoin by buying the currency, we wish you well because it appears as if that boat has sailed.

Mind you this isn’t because the cryptocurrency has died off or been kicked to the curb but rather because the currency is trading at an all time high.

Taking a trip over to local bitcoin exchange Luno you’ll find that today one bitcoin will cost you R22 019.55. The price today represents an all time high for the currency but it got us thinking – do South African’s use bitcoin?

Bitcoin price as of 11:49 4/5/17

In a survey conducted by Luno, 30.8% of respondents said that they use a bitcoin wallet every day with only 18.9% saying that they very seldomly use their wallet.

While 29.2% of respondents only use their wallet to check the price of bitcoin, 21.2% are using the currency to buy or sell bitcoin. Something rather interesting to us is that 42.5% of Lunos respondents use more than one bitcoin wallet likely due to the inherent danger of keeping all your eggs in one basket.

When it comes to using the currency as an investment tool bitcoin is rather trusted with only 10% of respondents in the survey saying they don’t trust bitcoin.

We love bitcoin gold

One of the best features of bitcoin is that isn’t linked to traditional financial markets. While outside factors do have some influence on the price of bitcoin (such as the US Election results last year) the price remains relatively stable when the rest of the financial world sneezes.

It’s interesting to note then that if South African’s were faced with the choice of owning gold or bitcoin 53.9% would opt to own gold. Given today’s bitcoin price that’s a bad idea considering an ounce of gold is currently trading for R16 658.41.

You can find out more about how South Africans use bitcoin in the infographic below created by Luno. You’ll have to click the image to enlarge it.

 

[Infograph – CC BY ND 4.0 Luno][Main Image – CC BY 2.0 CafeCredit.com]

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