Eighteen percent of people in Turkey own crypto compared to eight percent in the United States, according to a study conducted by ING Bank.

ING Bank Poll Finds 35% Europeans Agree Bitcoin Is the Future of Spending Online

“Cracking the Code on Cryptocurrency” surveyed about a thousand respondents in each country to understand their attitudes on the rise of digital currencies such as Bitcoin and what they might mean for our money.

ING Bank, a Dutch banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam, conducted the survey in 15 countries to a total of 14,828 participants in order to discover what each nation thinks about cryptocurrencies and what will their role be in consumer spending and investing.

Jessica Exton, behavioral scientist at ING’s consumer economics team, concluded that about a third, thirty-five percent, in Europe agree that Bitcoin is the future of spending online, while 32 percent of respondents are of the opinion that cryptocurrency is the future of investing. A further 29 percent indicated they would never invest in cryptocurrency.

Regarding risk, while 30% find digital currencies riskier than shares, the other 70% would say otherwise. 46% of respondents see shares as less risky than cryptocurrencies, and 24% even say they’re equally risky.

“This may be part of why cryptocurrencies seem to have less appeal for long-term personal finance activities, such as receiving pay or saving for university, than one-off transactions,” the report said.

The ING Bank report concluded that a minority of Europeans would consider using digital assets as a means of payment for a cup of coffee (23%), international online purchases (30%), or children’s university fees (20%).

“Interestingly, larger shares in lower per-capita income countries suggest they might consider investing or paying in cryptocurrency”, Exton stated.

Turkey Leads the Way Amongst the 15 Countries Surveyed

As to whether Bitcoin is the future of online spending, the majority of respondents in Turkey (53 percent) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, followed by Romanians (43 percent). Agreement was found in 31 percent of Americans, 25 percent of Brits, 18 percent of Australians, and 17 percent of the Dutch.

The report pointed to a potential bias towards younger professional people with more exposure to media and technology with the Turkish online survey as well as with the Romanian. Nevertheless, nearly one in five (18%) in Turkey say they own cryptocurrency compared to nine percent in Europe and eight percent in the United States, seven percent in Australia, and six percent in the U.K. Of the Romanian respondents, 12 percent said they held digital currencies.

A larger number of respondents agreed to the idea of eventually owning cryptocurrencies in the future, with 25% of Europeans expecting that, compared to 15% of Australians, and 21% of Americans.

Featured image from Shutterstock.