Bitcoin Awareness and Usage in Canada: An Update

Christopher Henry, Kim Huynh and Gradon Nicholls

No 2018-23, Staff Analytical Notes from Bank of Canada

Abstract: This note provides an update of the results of the 2017 Bitcoin Omnibus Survey (BTCOS) conducted by the Bank of Canada from December 12 to 15, 2017. The BTCOS was previously conducted in November and December 2016 and the results were reported in Henry et al. (2017, forthcoming). The 2017 survey took place in an interesting time, as Bitcoin prices were increasing and reached an all-time high on December 17, 2017. During this period, the level of awareness of Bitcoin increased from 64 per cent in the 2016 BTCOS to 85 per cent in the 2017 BTCOS, while ownership rose from 2.9 to 5.0 per cent, respectively. The main reason cited by survey participants for owning Bitcoin changed from transactional purposes in 2016 to investment purposes in 2017. Further, only about half of Bitcoin owners were found to regularly use Bitcoin to buy goods or services or to send money to other people.

Keywords: Bank notes; Digital Currencies; Econometric and statistical methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C12 E4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bca:bocsan:18-23

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