A survey in Brazil just revealed that 48% of citizens would like Bitcoin (BTC) to become their official currency. The survey cites “protection against inflation and financial instability” as the main reasons to invest in the king of cryptocurrencies.
Brazilians very optimistic about Bitcoin
Now that El Salvador has made Bitcoin its legal tender, some Latin American countries also seem to want to move in that direction.
To support this claim, Brazilian marketing agency Sherlock Communications conducted a survey of the population. It found that 48% of Brazilians wanted Bitcoin to become a national currency – 17% showed strong support and 31% showed moderate support.
Only 21% rejected the idea. The remaining 30% of respondents, meanwhile, were indifferent to the topic.
The survey was conducted via the online research platform Toluna and looked at the support for BTC and cryptos in various other Latin American countries, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Venezuela and Mexico. Of all the aforementioned regions, Brazilians showed the most support for the dean of cryptos.
“Brazilians were the biggest supporters of crypto in the region, with 56 percent supporting El Salvador’s approach and 48 percent saying they wished Brazil would adopt it as well.”
Note that the interest of Brazilians seems to be focused solely on Bitcoin, which is by far the most well-known crypto among those surveyed. 92% have heard of it, compared to only 31% and 30% respectively for Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC), the 2 most popular altcoins.
The reasons for this Bitcoin-mania
Despite common media representations of Bitcoin as a risky investment, Brazilian support is based on the exact opposite assumption.
When asked why they invest in cryptocurrencies, 39% of respondents cite “protection from inflation and financial instability” as a key factor in adopting cryptos. Other major reasons include diversifying investments (55%) and keeping up with technology trends (37%).
Luiz Eduardo Abreu Haddad, banking consultant at Sherlock, commented:
“El Salvador’s experience could become a great reference for Latin American countries on how to integrate blockchain and cryptocurrencies into their economies and generate welfare for their citizens.”
While Brazilians seem to be increasingly open to the adoption of BTC, Americans are not on the same page. In fact, according to another study, only 27 percent of the population would like to give Bitcoin official currency status.
Brazil is moving closer to the vision of countries like El Salvador, whose currencies are highly subject to rampant inflation. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele remains convinced that his decision to invest and adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender will benefit his people. He has taken advantage of the falling price to buy hundreds of BTC on several occasions.
