Public confidence in bitcoin is quickly slipping away as new research suggests a majority of people think the cryptocurrency's value will fall or collapse in the next six months.
About 61 per cent of people surveyed by market research firm D-CYFOR said bitcoin would either decrease in value over the next six months (33 per cent) or collapse entirely and be worthless (28 per cent).
The number has grown from November, when a survey by the same company found 47 per cent of people thought bitcoin's value would fall or completely collapse.
Just 39 per cent of people said they were optimistic that bitcoin's value would go up, down from 54 per cent in November.
Bitcoin's price shot up following D-CYFOR's previous survey. In December, the cryptocurrency rocketed to an all-time high of nearly $20,000 a coin, but its price has nearly halved since.
Most people now know about bitcoin
The survey found awareness of bitcoin had increased as the digital currency stole headlines throughout December - 91 per cent of the general public said they'd heard of bitcoin, up 11 per cent from November.
And just three per cent wrongly thought physical bitcoins existed while 88 per cent knew it was purely digital.
Despite more people knowing about it, fewer wanted to invest in bitcoin.
Only 16 per cent of respondents said they had already invested in bitcoin or planned to, down six per cent from November.
The top choice for a #cryptocurrency #investment aside from #bitcoin was #ethereum followed by bitcoin cash, #litecoin, #Ripple and #Cardano.