In the latest turn of events, it seems most Americans are against a virtual currency system even though they have raised concerns about the current financial system in the past
It has been merely a week since the Federal Reserve Bank revealed details about their ongoing research during the pandemic periods on the potential of CBDC in the US. As it would turn out, however, most citizens are not sold yet on the digital currency system.
A survey by Genesis Mining, a crypto mining firm, showed that most U.S. citizens are opposed to the institution of a central bank digital currency. The study conducted recently revealed that less than 25% of 400 participants acknowledged and approved the proposition that the US government should switch from paper money to a digital dollar.
More than 50% were against the proposition and believed that it wasn’t the direction to go. Although this finding will probably be taken with a grimace, it isn’t all bad news. The percentage of those in favour has almost doubled over the past 12 months.
Asked about their take on the introduction of virtual currency to replace paper money, only 13% of the respondents were for the idea last year. This year, that number has risen to almost 25%.
The biggest concern among most of the respondents from the survey is crypto-crime. Although a staggering 85% of the respondents claimed to be familiar with crypto assets, many in this group associate digital currencies with crime. This perhaps explains why CBDC raked only a handful of proponents.
The survey also showed that there was poor monetary literacy in the population. 38% of the survey’s respondents thought that the US dollar is backed by oil, gold, or bods. 13% simply didn’t have a comment on the matter. Notwithstanding the indifference regarding monetary policies, 88% of the participants recognised inflation as a major concern.
Just last month, the Bank of Canada posted research revealing that even though financial literacy is positively associated with crypto awareness, it is also negatively associated with crypto asset ownership. The study found out that respondents with high financial literacy were half as likely to hold crypto than the ordinary populace.