Morning Consult recently conducted a survey among 2,200 US residents and 1,000 citizens from four Latin American countries, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, to gauge their opinions on the future of cryptocurrencies.
The results were surprising, as the majority of Latin Americans (ranging from 59% to 68%) expressed confidence that cryptocurrencies would become legal tender within the next decade, whereas only 38% of US citizens shared this view.
Interestingly, a significant percentage of respondents from all five countries reported owning cryptocurrencies, with the highest percentage of owners found in Colombia (26%) and Argentina (24%).
However, the study found that residents of the United States were less optimistic about cryptocurrencies than citizens of Latin America.
This disparity in attitudes towards cryptocurrencies may be due to recent events within the cryptocurrency industry that have caused some Americans to lose confidence in digital assets.
The collapse of the Terra project and the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, as well as the bankruptcy of crypto lenders Voyager Digital and Celsius, have become a hot topic for discussion in American political circles and have led to even more tightening of regulations.
In contrast, everyday use of cryptocurrencies in Latin America appears to be on the rise, with 51% of consumers from the region making transactions with crypto assets, according to Mastercard data cited by Morning Consult.
Furthermore, a recent partnership between the Bitso crypto exchange and Mastercard to launch a debit card in Mexico is expected to facilitate the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies.
While the survey found that 76% of US cryptocurrency owners believe in the prospects of blockchain and digital assets, it is clear that attitudes towards cryptocurrencies differ significantly between the US and Latin America.
It will be interesting to see how these attitudes evolve in the years to come.