According to Checkout.com‘s findings, roughly 54% of people in the UAE and Saudi Arabia think that crypto should be used as currency, rather than just as an “investment asset.” According to the study’s findings, this proportion is nine percentage points higher than the global average of 45%.
Nonetheless, a sizable majority of respondents in each country believe that certain barriers are preventing cryptocurrencies from becoming popular.
In contrast, only 36% of respondents in the United States, the world’s largest economy and home to one of the world’s largest crypto markets, believe that crypto should be used as currency. In Germany, 31% of respondents agreed that cryptocurrency should be used as currency, while 32% in the United Kingdom concurred.
However, according to a study by Quinnipiac University, 43% of Americans are pro cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, various reasons are mentioned in the study report as to why nearly half of the surveyed inhabitants aged 18 to 35 are keen to use cryptocurrencies to make payments.
The report stated:
“Consumers find utility and benefits in paying with cryptocurrencies, be they stablecoins or non-pegged crypto. Faster transactions and lower fees, particularly for cross-border purchases, provide significant benefits to consumers.”
Is crypto too complicated to go mainstream?
Even in places like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where nearly half of the 30,000 respondents said they expect to use crypto on a regular or occasional basis, there are still barriers preventing digital currencies from becoming popular. According to the report, around 25% of Saudi Arabian respondents and just over 30% of UAE respondents believe,
“Crypto is too complicated to become mainstream.”
For context, over 40% of respondents in Hong Kong and Singapore agreed that cryptocurrencies could never become mainstream because they are too hazardous. The research also mentions the gender disparity and the education gap as major roadblocks.
Australia, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom are among the other countries where more than 30% of respondents say crypto is too hard. Another important impediment to the mainstreaming of privately issued digital currencies in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is consumer perceptions of crypto as unsafe.