El Salvador made history by becoming the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender last week.
Valor Investe, a financial education website based in Brazil, reported on a recent survey whose results suggest that 48% of Brazilians would welcome Bitcoin as the official currency in the country. The study involved 2,700 respondents in the following South American countries : Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Venezuela and Brazil.
Brazilians have also been the biggest supporters of El Salvador’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Indeed, 56% of Brazilians surveyed felt that the adoption of cryptocurrency was a good decision. The study commissioned by Sherlock Communications found that just over a fifth of respondents categorically rejected the idea of cryptocurrency.
“Brazilians have been the biggest advocates of cryptocurrency recognition in the region, with 56% supporting El Salvador’s approach and 48 % saying they want Brazil to adopt it as well… On the other hand, 30% neither agree nor disagree and 21% are against the idea (12% disagree and 9% strongly disagree). »
The 12% of respondents who are not ready to invest in Bitcoin report a significant decline compared to the 33% who said the same in 2020. The main reasons cited for not joining cryptocurrencies are security concerns (42%), the volatile nature of assets (37%) and the lack of financial means to invest (33%).
When asked about their motivation to invest in digital assets, 55% said they allow them to diversify their investments, and 39% of respondents saw it as a protection against inflation and financial volatility. A proportion (39 %) of respondents also said they were in this investment circle to keep up with technology trends.
The study found that even though Brazilians have embraced crypto assets in general, Bitcoin remains the most dominant crypto coin in the country. The vast majority (92 %) of survey participants said they knew Bitcoin, 31% knew Ethereum and 30% Litecoin, the three most popular cryptocurrencies in the country.
The results showed that Latin Americans were concerned about economic crises in their countries, with 38% of respondents saying that it made them much more interested in investing in cryptocurrencies, while 37% said that the crisis only slightly increased their interest. A fraction of 15 % indicated that the economic state made no difference to their interest in cryptos.
Brazil currently has more than 1.4 million registered users on cryptocurrency platforms, and these users are served by 21 ATMs. In addition, Brazil’s approval of exchange traded funds (ETFs) earlier in the year has largely contributed to establishing a strong crypto presence, as ETFs have allowed the most reserved investors to get into crypto.
