A study conducted among smartphone users in Mexico revealed that, although there is evidence of fear and ignorance about cryptoactives, there is also a growing interest of Mexicans on the subject. In this sense, 46.1% of those who do not have digital assets at present or have never used them, expressed their willingness to acquire bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies in the next 6 months.
The information comes from a survey called Criptómetro MX18, which was conducted between May 22 and June 5, 2018 at the initiative of a group of firms related to the ecosystem of cryptoactives in that country. For this study, data was collected through 1,416 interviews with mobile phone users, who belong to the community of the Wisum platform, according to a press release Simeon Pickers, director of Psyma Latina, a company dedicated to psychological analysis. of markets.
Although the sample seems small, in relation to the 64.7 million smartphones that, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), existed in Mexico until last year, the goal of the study was to obtain the first indicators on knowledge and general feeling of the population related to technology, about cryptocurrencies.
The study showed that 26.5% of respondents have already purchased or used cryptocurrencies at some time. In addition, the cryptoactive most appreciated by Mexicans is bitcoin, the most popular and with the highest global capitalization, which showed a recognition of 61.2% among the participants.
Mexicans are using their cryptocurrencies mainly for purchases and online payments (35.2%), as well as to maintain them and wait for them to increase their value (32.5%). However, there is a group (20.5%) that is dedicated to obtaining short-term profits through the purchase and sale of cryptoactives. For their part, those who expressed interest in acquiring cryptocurrencies, 46.2% would do so in order to maintain the balance waiting for its value to increase.
Among the results that pose challenges for the Mexican crypto community, it should be noted that, of those who expressed not being interested in buying cryptocurrencies, 47.4% indicated that the reason is fear of fraud. Likewise, 39% say they do not have knowledge; 30.5% consider that they have no support and 29.9% fear losing their value.
The firms that promoted the study Criptómetro MX18, Bitso, Fiinlab, Wisum and Psyma Latina, agreed that to increase the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Mexico, it is necessary to encourage users to "move from interest to action".
It should be noted that Mexico is an outstanding country in Latin America, in terms of new financial technologies (FinTech). In fact, it already has a regulatory framework for this sector that was promulgated at the end of the first quarter of 2018.