Only 2.3% of Americans would trust bitcoin to send funds overseas in an emergency, according to a new survey by the Digital Currency Council.

By contrast, 30.3% of the 750 “regular Americans” sampled would trust their banks to make international transfers.

23% of the people surveyed said that they would use Western Union, whilst 22% thought Paypal was more trustworthy.

MoneyGram would be used by 6% and the Postal Service by 10% of those questioned.

Commenting on the results, David Berger, CEO of the Digital Currency Council, which runs a series of ‘Pulse Reports’ on public perceptions of digital currency, said:

“While bitcoin transactions may not technically require trust between parties, it is clear that consumers place their faith in institutions to send money.”

He concluded that earning consumers’ trust would be critical to driving the widespread adoption of bitcoin.

Interestingly, 37.2% of those surveyed said that they would not trust any of the aforementioned money transfer options.