According to a recently conducted survey made by the Investor Office of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), 500,000 Ontarians – or 5% of its population – own virtual currencies.

Ontarians Embrace Virtual Currencies

The interesting thing here is that 46% of the owner of crypto assets in Ontario said that they have purchased them because they have a real interest in the technology behind their acquisition. Another 18% answered that they bought virtual currencies to prevent fraud and loss. 

At the same time, 42 percent of the respondents said that they bought virtual currencies trying to seek a quick return on their investment. Additionally, 25% bought cryptocurrencies to make an anonymous payment, and 12% said that they were concerned about the lack of trust in the traditional financial world.

Indeed, banks know that their business is at risk with the new financial start-ups and cryptocurrencies in the market.

Moreover, the study shows the amount of money that individuals were investing in the crypto market. 38% of the respondents spent less than $1,000 dollars, 25% between $1,000 and $5,000. Only 5% of the individuals spent between $10,000 and $20,000 and 4% spent above $20,000.

In order to invest in the market, 26% of the individuals used credit cards. It is also important to mark that 70% of the people said that they have been able to recover their investment. Unfortunately, 27% still owe money.

In addition to it, 81 percent explained that they heard about the famous cryptocurrency Bitcoin. 25% of the individuals knew Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Lower on the list appear Litecoin (LTC) and Ether (ETH) with 13 and 11 percent respectively.

Furthermore, just 34% of the surveyed knew about the fundamental details of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. And surprisingly, just 3 percent were able to answer all the right statements about bitcoin. 50 percent of the individuals answering the questions said that Bitcoin was, indeed, a government-backed virtual currency.

There is an important interest on virtual currencies and cryptos in general. But it is important to educate the population about how they work, how they differentiate with other currencies and which are they key points of them.