It is always interesting to learn about the Bitcoin community with a good ‘ole survey every few months, and this Spring is no different. Bitcoin in Ireland is producing this global survey and intends to get feedback from over one thousand Bitcoin owners over the next couple of months. We have the preliminary results of a sample of about one hundred and fifty respondents so far.

Bitcoin survey reveals information that reflects recent events

The largest percentage of respondents were from the United States, one of the top 2 global markets for Bitcoin owners. The age profile of the responses shows Bitcoin is heavily male-owned, with the majority in between their twenties and early forties. 89% of respondents were male, which is actually putting female owners at a higher percentage than previous surveys.

Virtually all respondents said they had a bitcoin wallet. 30% say they are using a desktop wallet, and 26% are using a mobile wallet. Paper wallets make up a sizable number of wallets in use at 15%, followed by the Bitcoin Core at 13%. 72% of those that responded say that they have tried several bitcoin wallets and have finally found one they’re happy with while 11% say they hadn’t found one they’re happy with yet. About one in six responders have lost access to a bitcoin wallet, although most owners said that in the early days when bitcoin was of little value.

Over 51% of owners are actively using the currency, with about 27% of respondents saying they’ve used bitcoin within days of doing the survey. 22% said they had used Bitcoin the same day. Respondents are also actively recruiting people into bitcoin, with four out of five owners saying that they have gotten their sphere of influence to start using bitcoin. Almost 30% said they had gotten multiple friends to start using bitcoin.

What was most interesting to me was the bitcoin exchange history of those surveyed. Four out of five respondents said they were currently registered with an exchange, and one in four respondents use exchanges to buy bitcoin to spend. And a whopping 26% of all bitcoin owner respondents said that they had lost bitcoins due to “exchange risk”. Either the exchange was “hacked”, shut down with their funds inside, or their exchange account was somehow “compromised”. With the rash of closures since, and including, Mt. Gox over the last fourteen months, this reflects the news reports very well.

Also read: Can Bitcoin Exchange Risk Lead to Bitcoin Regulation?

More than one in three identified themselves as bitcoin miners. When asked how often they purchased mining hardware, about one-third said once, and it’s not currently in use, and about the same answered several times, to obtain more hashing power.

Bitcoin gambling seems very popular in this survey so far. More than half (51%) of respondents replied that they have used a bitcoin gambling site before. Dice roll gambling sites were by far the most popular at almost 40%.

A lofty 89% of respondents knew what a bitcoin faucet was (I must be in the 11% because I had to look it up). One in three said they used them occasionally and one in five saying they use them regularly.

This survey will continue through the month of May. See BitcoininIreland.com or #BitcoinSurvey for more information on how to participate.

Images provided by Bitcoin in Ireland and Shutterstock.

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