A new survey reveals a startling lack of interest – and a not-so-startling lack of trust – in Libra, the new cryptocurrency being developed by Facebook.

Consumer insights provider CivicScience polled 1,799 American adults and discovered that a mere 5% had any interest at all in the new crypto, according to a report published last week.

Furthermore, just 2% of respondents said that they would trust Libra more than Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Lack of trust

Facebook and Libra have been in the news a lot in recent weeks and most of the media coverage has been voicing the concerns of governments, regulatory agencies, industry experts, and more.

Through it all, one of the common threads has been a significant lack of trust in Facebook and, by extension, Libra.

That lack of trust is echoed in this latest survey where the majority of respondents said they had no faith when it comes to Facebook and their personal data.

Overall, only 2% of those surveyed had a lot of faith in Facebook while 21% had a little bit of faith, and a staggering 77% had no faith at all in the social media giant’s ability to protect their personal data.

As for trust in Libra and its associated Calibra wallet compared to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and their wallets, the results were quite telling:

1% say they trust Libra more

1% say they trust Libra somewhat more than other cryptocurrencies

19% trust all cryptocurrencies the same

5% say they trust Libra less than BTC and other virtual currencies

35% say they trust Libra “much less” than other cryptocurrencies

39% were not sure

This means that a full 40% of respondents trust Libra less than its crypto competitors whilst only 2% trust Libra more.

Lack of interest

Despite the fact that an estimated 68% of Americans use Facebook each month, the vast majority of respondents have little to no interest in its Libra cryptocurrency:

2% very interested

3% somewhat interested

86% not at all interested

10% I’m not sure

However, the interest in Libra was significantly higher for respondents in the 18 – 29 age range as seen by the following results:

30% interested (18 – 24)

18% interested (25 – 29)

10% interested (30 -34)

12% interested (35 – 44)

15% interested (45 – 54)

8% interested (55 – 64)

7% interested (65+)

This increased interest by younger people dovetails with previous surveys, such as the Bitcoin poll commissioned by Blockchain Capital back in April.

In that particular poll, it showed that interest in Bitcoin had increased from its 2017 surveys, but younger age groups were far more likely to be into BTC than their older counterparts.

The 18 – 34 age group had the following results on the Blockchain Capital survey:

90% have heard of Bitcoin

60% are at least “somewhat” familiar with Bitcoin

59% believe that Bitcoin is a “positive innovation in financial technology”

48% think most people will be using Bitcoin in the next 10 years

49% are likely to buy Bitcoin in the next five years

While the recent hearings and headlines may not have done Facebook and Libra any favors in terms of interest and trust, they do seem to have helped increase awareness of the new cryptocurrency.

A recent survey conducted by eToro found that a full 16% of those surveyed knew what Libra was, which beat other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin and Ethereum.