Australians know of the cryptocurrency industry, but they don’t know about it, according to the latest research from Binance.
Binance, in September, surveyed 1,552 Australian and New Zealand participants who identified as crypto investors and non-crypto investors. The crypto exchange found that while 86 percent of non-investors were familiar with crypto as an asset class, only 9 percent of them felt confident with their crypto knowledge.
In contrast, less than half (i.e. 45 percent) of Aussie crypto investors rated their knowledge of the crypto space as “strong”. So, not even full-time crypto bros are entirely confident about what they know!
“This shows that education needs to extend beyond the basics of what crypto is and explore further into the depths of blockchain technology and Web3,” Binance Australia’s General Manager, Ben Rose, told The Chainsaw.
Investors are driven by ‘FOMO’
In addition, Binance found that the biggest single driver behind Aussies’ ape-ing into crypto is classic ol’ ‘FOMO’ – 23 percent said they were in fear of missing out on the next rocket to the moon.
36 percent of Aussie investors also shared they’re HODLers who were in crypto for the long term. Only 25 percent of them were actively trading crypto coins.
Ben Rose characterised the crypto market’s presence in Australia as “suffering from a lack of knowledge – not lack of awareness.” In other words, the everyday lay person might have an idea of what a ‘Bitcoin’ is or they have heard of an ‘NFT’ – but that’s just about it, really.
“That’s why we invest in initiatives like Binance Academy with free resources for anyone interested in Web3, blockchain or crypto,” Rose shared with The Chainsaw.
Speaking of crypto education, Binance’s research also found that the most sought-after topics in crypto from respondents were trading strategies (52 percent), DeFi (44 percent), and crypto tax (41 percent).
Crypto: Aussies are optimistic
Despite a prolonged crypto winter thanks to FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, Aussies, surprisingly, remain optimistic about the future of the industry. 45 percent of Aussies, both investors and non-investors of crypto, felt “positive or very positive” on the crypto outlook. 57 percent said they were “likely or very likely” to continue investing in crypto in the future.
As Bitcoin bounces back above US$37,000 (AU$56,800) and crypto continues its rally, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more Aussies pouring funds into crypto. However, Binance said there was a need for the industry to fill in the knowledge gaps in crypto before the next possible bull run.
“We need to shift the narrative away from crypto being an investment to it being a transformative technology with real-world utility through education in order to drive sustainable adoption,” Ben Rose told The Chainsaw.
