·       41% of Brits’ key motivation for investing in crypto is long-term investment and stable return

·       51% would be very interested in taking out a loan by using crypto holdings as a guarantee

·       39% were very likely to use crypto to send money abroad or receive money from outside UK from friends and family

New research commissioned by Coinbase, the global cryptocurrency exchange platform, has found that many Brits are increasingly identifying cryptocurrency as a viable and reliable alternative to traditional financial systems.

Cryptocurrency has traditionally been seen as a speculative, trading investment but a number of other use cases have emerged in recent years, such as the ability to earn a return on investments via staking into certain blockchains, the ability to facilitate lending through decentralised finance, and as a way of conducting faster, cheaper remittance transfers. 25% of Coinbase’s customers currently participate in one of these ‘non-investment’ activities.

Using independent research firm, Qualtrics, Coinbase surveyed over 2000 British adults who have some familiarity with digital currencies in order to gain a deeper understanding of their attitudes towards current and future engagement with cryptocurrency. It found that:

• 41% of Brits saying that their key motivation for investing in crypto was to invest long-term and earn a stable return, 
• Over half of respondents (51%) would be very interested in taking out a loan by using crypto holdings as a guarantee, in place of traditional methods, and 
• 39% of respondents were very likely to use crypto to send money abroad or receive money from outside the UK from friends and family.

This data shows the increasing potential for cryptocurrency to transcend the current global financial system and traverse borders, allowing Brits to become more in tune with their assets and promoting financial inclusion.

Commenting on these findings, Marcus Hughes, Managing Director for Europe at Coinbase said:

“The future of cryptocurrencies is directly linked to their utility and we are therefore hugely encouraged by these findings. We can see that the attitudes of British consumers towards cryptocurrency have transformed significantly in the last few years, with many now considering adopting cryptocurrency as an alternative method to execute traditional banking functions including transactions and loans.” 

“At Coinbase, our mission is to create greater access to the cryptoeconomy through a user-friendly experience that customers can trust. We are honoured to be at the forefront of this shift to an all-inclusive, global financial system. 1.3m people in the UK adult population remain unbanked and we believe cryptocurrency removes barriers for users to access capital in a safe and secure manner.”