Staff Discussion Paper/Document d’analyse du personnel—2022-10

Last updated: April 19, 2022

Bitcoin Awareness, Ownership

and Use: 2016–20
by Daniela Balutel,1 Marie-Hélène Felt,2 Gradon Nicholls2 and
Marcel C. Voia3

1
University of Orléans and Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2
Currency Department, Bank of Canada
3
University of Orléans and University of Bucharest

[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]

Bank of Canada staff discussion papers are completed staff research studies on a wide variety of subjects relevant to
central bank policy, produced independently from the Bank’s Governing Council. This research may support or
challenge prevailing policy orthodoxy. Therefore, the views expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors
and may differ from official Bank of Canada views. No responsibility for them should be attributed to the Bank.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34989/sdp-2022-10 | ISSN 1914-0568 ©2022 Bank of Canada

Acknowledgements
We thank Ted Garanzotis, Alejandro Garcia, Chris Henry, Kim P. Huynh and Francisco
Rivadeneyra for their helpful comments and suggestions, and Heng Chen for providing
methodological guidance. We also thank Bank of Canada survey partners at Ipsos: Shelley
Edwards and Lisa Canini. We are also grateful to Colette Stoeber and Alison Arnot for
excellent editorial assistance.

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Abstract
Since 2016, the Bank of Canada has conducted annual surveys to monitor awareness,
adoption and usage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (Henry et al. 2018, 2019a, 2019b).
This report incorporates results from the 2019 Bitcoin Omnibus Survey and the November
2020 Cash Alternative Survey. We find that between 2018 and 2020, the level of Bitcoin
awareness and ownership among Canadians remained stable: nearly 90% of the population
were aware of Bitcoin, while only 5% owned it. We find that about half of Bitcoin owners
stated they usually obtained their bitcoins through mobile or web exchanges, while one-fifth
used mining. Bitcoin owners were susceptible to certain risks, as evidenced by the fact that
about half of current and past owners stated they had been affected by events such as price
crashes, losing access to funds, scams or data breaches. The most commonly cited reasons
for owning Bitcoin were related to its use for investment or based on interest in the
technology. Bitcoin owners displayed greater knowledge about the Bitcoin network than non-
owners, yet they scored lower on questions testing financial literacy.

Topics: Bank notes; Digital currencies and fintech; Econometrics and statistical methods

JEL codes: E4, C12, O51

ii
1. Introduction
The Bank of Canada, as the sole issuer of Canadian bank notes, has developed a
comprehensive survey program with the goal of understanding the demand for and use of
cash and other payment methods. As technology evolves, so does the way Canadians make
payments. For instance, between 2013 and 2020, the share of transactions made in cash at
the point of sale declined from 44% to 22%—although cash is still widely used for small-value
transactions and within certain demographic groups (Chen, Engert et al. 2021).

In an increasingly digital economy, questions have arisen as to whether the Bank should issue
a digital alternative to cash in the form of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In a 2020
speech, Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Tim Lane highlighted two scenarios that could
warrant the launch of a CBDC:

• where the use of physical cash is reduced or eliminated

• where cryptocurrencies see more widespread use as a method of payment, store of

value and unit of account (Lane 2020; see also Bank of Canada 2020)

Furthermore, given the Bank’s role in maintaining financial stability, its 2019 Financial System
Review identified the evolution of the cryptoasset market as an emerging financial
vulnerability that should be closely monitored. Currently, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
are in early stages of adoption, and the size of this market is not big enough to pose
significant risks to the financial system. However, this may change quickly, and it is therefore
important to monitor developments regularly.

Given these considerations, the Bank has conducted a series of surveys on cryptocurrencies—
focusing on Bitcoin given its prominence in the market—as part of a broader survey program
on cash and payments. These surveys, referred to as the Bitcoin Omnibus Survey (BTCOS),
were conducted annually between 2016 and 2019. The BTCOS allows us to measure
awareness, ownership and holdings patterns of cryptocurrencies in the four years before the
COVID-19 pandemic, and it also contains specialized questions aimed at Bitcoin owners
about their usage habits.

This study also uses data from the Bank’s November 2020 Cash Alternative Survey (CAS). The
focus of the CAS was to better understand the demand for and use of cash and other
methods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, while we can observe overall trends in Bitcoin
adoption and awareness up to 2020, we monitor more detailed cryptocurrency behaviours
only up to 2019. Together, the data from BTCOS and CAS allow us to observe any significant
changes in awareness and ownership of Bitcoin during the first year of the pandemic.

Overall, survey results from the BTCOS and CAS show that the level of awareness of Bitcoin
among Canadians remained stable from 2018 to 2020. Specifically, 87% of Canadians in the
2019 BTCOS and 88% of Canadians in the 2020 CAS reported having heard of Bitcoin

1
compared with 89% of Canadians in the 2018 BTCOS. Similarly, the share of Canadians who
owned Bitcoin remained around 5% from 2018 to 2020, compared with 4% in 2017 and 3% in
2016 (Chart 1). We observed some changes in the demographic profile of Bitcoin owners in
terms of gender, age and income level. However, Bitcoin ownership remained concentrated
among young, educated men with high household income and low financial literacy.

Chart 1: Bitcoin ownership and awareness, 2016–20

Note: This chart plots yearly estimates of the share of Canadians who owned Bitcoin and who were aware of Bitcoin from
2016 to 2020. For legibility, ownership is scaled from 0% to 10%, while awareness is scaled from 0% to 100%.

Source: Bank of Canada Last observation: November 2020

The main reasons Bitcoin owners cited for owning bitcoins in the 2019 BTCOS were
investment-related (39% of owners). However, technology-related reasons for owning Bitcoin
(31%) were more prevalent in 2019 than they were in the 2018 survey (22%). In addition, the
share of Canadians who reported using Bitcoin for transactions and transfers a few times a
month or more decreased from 2018 to 2019. In the 2019 BTCOS, about half of Bitcoin
owners reported they usually obtained their bitcoins through exchanges on a website or
mobile app. A further one-fifth reported using mining, while remaining Bitcoin owners were
split among other sources, such as from Bitcoin automated teller machines (ATMs) or directly
from other people.

On average, Bitcoin owners in 2019 were more knowledgeable than non-owners about the
properties of Bitcoin. Despite this, more than 20% of owners showed low Bitcoin
2
knowledge—that is, they did not answer any of three knowledge questions correctly. Given
that investment was the most common reason owners cited for owning Bitcoin, we see that
many owners may be trying to profit from cryptocurrencies without fully understanding the
technology. This is of concern given the risks associated with cryptocurrency—about half of
past and current owners in 2019 stated in 2019 they had been affected by events such as
price crashes, losing access to funds, scams or data breaches.

Chart 2 provides context for the Bitcoin market during the periods when we conducted our
surveys. The 2018 BTCOS took place when the price of Bitcoin was the lowest it had been
since 2017. In contrast, the 2019 BTCOS and 2020 CAS were conducted during steady
increases in Bitcoin prices. Furthermore, while prices approximately quadrupled in 2020, this
growth did not translate into a greater number of transactions.

The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: section 2 describes the design and
methodology of the 2019 BTCOS and November 2020 CAS; section 3 discusses Canadians'
awareness and ownership of Bitcoin; section 4 examines the characteristics and behaviour of
Bitcoin owners more closely; and section 5 briefly summarizes our findings.

Chart 2: Number and price of Bitcoin transactions, 2012–20 (monthly average)

Note: Daily number and price of Bitcoin transactions were averaged in each month. The data series for price starts on
August 2014. Green vertical lines indicate when the first two iterations of the Bank of Canada Bitcoin Omnibus Survey
(BTCOS) were conducted in 2016, the red vertical line indicates the third iteration in 2017, the blue vertical line
indicates the fourth iteration in 2018, and the purple line indicates the fifth BTCOS iteration in 2019. The orange
vertical line represents the Bank’s Cash Alternative Survey (CAS) conducted in November 2020.
Sources: Bitcoin.com and Yahoo! Finance Last observation: November 2020
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2. Data
Early iterations of the BTCOS (Henry, Huynh and Nicholls 2018, 2019a and 2019b) provided
not only valuable information about trends in Bitcoin awareness, ownership and usage but
also lessons learned to improve future surveys. One reason for doing subsequent iterations is
to gain a deeper understanding of how ownership of Bitcoin changes over time. A number of
factors can affect Bitcoin adoption:

• price volatility (Chart 2)

• the type of investor (long- or short-term goals, low or high tolerance for risk,
educational background in finance)

• the COVID-19 pandemic

• developments in financial technology

• acceptance of bitcoins by merchants

• risks related to cryptocurrency incidents

The most recent iteration of BTCOS was conducted in December 2019. The 2020 CAS focused
on the demand and usage of cash during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also contained two
questions on awareness and ownership of digital payment methods. Together, these surveys
enable us to monitor trends in awareness and ownership of Bitcoin as we entered the first
year of the pandemic. This section provides information on the design and weighting
procedures for the 2019 BTCOS and 2020 CAS.

2.1 Survey design

The design of the 2019 BTCOS was very similar to that of the 2018 survey (see Henry, Huynh
and Nicholls 2019b for details). The following changes were made to the questionnaire:

• We added a question to assess respondents’ awareness of stablecoins, 1 following

Facebook’s announcement of its digital currency project Libra (now known as Diem)
in June 2019.

• We added questions about how respondents obtained Bitcoin and the potential
incidents they faced while holding it. This question was motivated by two incidents
that occurred in Canada with cryptocurrency exchanges: in October 2018, Edmonton-
based Maple Change lost US$6 million of users’ funds (Bambrough 2018); and in
January 2019, QuadrigaCX lost access to clients’ funds after the sudden death of its
founder, resulting in losses of approximately Can$215 million (Ernst and Young 2019).

1
A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency designed to have a relatively stable price by being pegged to a commodity or
currency or by having its supply regulated by an algorithm.

4
 • In the survey’s questions about owning altcoins (cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin),
we expanded the list to include Binance Coin as well as the stablecoins Tether, USD
Coin and Dai. We also added Libra as a way to identify low-quality responses. 2

Our 2020 data on Bitcoin awareness and ownership are from the November 2020 CAS. This
survey had a more general focus on the demand for and use of cash during the COVID-19
pandemic. As a result, it collected only limited information about Bitcoin.

To compare the key findings on Bitcoin from 2016 to 2020, we combine the 2019 BTCOS and
November 2020 CAS with results from previous iterations of the BTCOS already published
(Henry, Huynh and Nicholls 2018, 2019a and 2019b). Final sample sizes were 1,997 in 2016;
2,623 in 2017; 1,987 in 2018 and 1,987 in 2019. These samples included 58, 117, 99 and 89
Bitcoin owners each year, respectively. In the November 2020 CAS, the total number of
respondents was 3,893, including 181 Bitcoin owners.

2.2 Survey methodology

The BTCOS and CAS recruit participants from two sources. The first is an opt-in panel—that is,
participants voluntarily choose to join a panel and are invited to complete various surveys in
exchange for rewards. The second is internet recruitment through advertisements on
websites. In this case, participants can complete an individual survey but do not have to join a
panel. The goal of internet recruitment is to capture segments of the population missed in
panels—particularly hard-to-reach groups such as young men. This is especially important for
studies of cryptocurrencies because young men are the most frequent owners of Bitcoin and
other cryptocurrencies.

Because we use these two respondent sources, we evaluate the impact of mixing these
sources on our final estimates. Technical issues during data collection led to the 2019 BTCOS
having a roughly 2:1 ratio of internet to panel respondents, a reversal from previous iterations
of the BTCOS and the November 2020 CAS, where this ratio was roughly 1:2. In a separate
appendix, available upon request, we investigate the impact that sample composition has on
survey estimates and adjust the composition using weights. 3

The weighting procedure for both the 2019 BTCOS and November 2020 CAS samples follows
the methodology used in the 2018 BTCOS (Henry, Huynh and Nicholls 2019b). We use a
raking procedure, outlined in Deville, Sarndal and Sautory (1993), to adjust the final sample
for differences between the demographic composition of our sample and the Canadian
population. Specifically, the procedure yields survey weights that match the sample to the

2
Given that Libra is not a real coin but a project for a coin, answering “yes” to its ownership will suggest a false or
not thoughtful answer.
3
We keep the current composition (37% panel respondents and 63% internet respondents) for the 2019 BTCOS
sample and settle on a similar mix (30% and 70%, respectively) for the 2020 CAS.

5
2016 Canadian Census with respect to the demographics of age, gender, region, education,
marital status, employment and household income.

3. Bitcoin awareness and ownership

This section presents trends in Canadians’ awareness and ownership of Bitcoin from 2016 to
2020. In addition, using conditional analysis, we identify the demographic characteristics
associated with Bitcoin awareness and ownership.

3.1 Canadians' awareness of Bitcoin

We measure the level of Bitcoin awareness among Canadians 4 using the survey question,
“Have you heard about Bitcoin?” Awareness has increased since 2016. In that year, 62% of
Canadians said they heard about Bitcoin. This was followed by a jump to 83% in 2017 and
89% in 2018 (Table 1). In 2019 and 2020, the levels of awareness remained virtually
unchanged, at 87% and 88%, respectively.

Overall, the level of awareness increased across all demographics over the 2016–20 period. At
the same time, we observe persistent patterns in demographics. Specifically, we see the
highest levels of awareness (above 90%) among Canadians who were male, had a university
degree, were not employed (unemployed or not in labour force), were financially literate and
had relatively high household income ($70,000 and above). From a geographic perspective,
residents of Quebec were least likely to have heard of Bitcoin.

4
All percentages reported in the paper are based on survey responses that have been weighted to be representative
of the Canadian population (2016) with respect to key demographic characteristics.

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Table 1: Percentage of Canadians who were aware of Bitcoin, 2016–20
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Overall 62 83 89 87 88
Gender:
Male 72 90 93 93 92
Female 54 77 85 81 83
Age:
18–34 69 87 91 88 86
35–54 58 82 88 84 86
55 and older 62 82 88 88 91
Education:
High school or less 55 76 84 82 82
College 59 85 90 88 90
University 78 93 95 92 94
Income:
Below $30,000 49 74 87 77 79
$30,000–69,999 61 82 88 84 86
$70,000 and above 69 87 91 91 91
Labour force:
Employed 64 85 90 88 87
Unemployed 74 80 90 75 91
Not in labour force 58 81 87 87 90
Region:
British Columbia 74 93 94 89 91
Prairies 66 84 89 88 93
Ontario 64 85 92 90 91
Quebec 49 75 84 78 75
Atlantic 65 80 83 88 88
Financial literacy:
Low 80 78 76
Medium 90 86 88
High 94 94 95
Note: The sample size is 1,997 in 2016; 2,623 in 2017; 1,987 in 2018; 1,987 in 2019 and 3,893 in 2020. The sample
consists of 58 Bitcoin owners in 2016, 117 in 2017, 99 in 2018, 89 in 2019, and 181 in 2020. Financial literacy scores are
calculated based on the responses to the three financial literacy questions according to Lusardi and Mitchell (2014)
(Appendix, Table A-2 ). Financial literacy scores are computed by summing the correct answers and subtracting the
incorrect answers, while “don’t know” answers do not contribute to the measure. As a result, knowledge scores take
values from -3 to 3. Based on these indexes, three knowledge levels were defined as follows: low (score<=0), medium
(score = 1 or score = 2) and high (score = 3). The Prairies region includes Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The
Atlantic region includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. All
estimates are calculated using survey weights.

7
We further analyze Bitcoin awareness using a logistic regression framework conditional on
demographic characteristics and financial literacy. Table 2 presents the results. The first
column provides the results of a pooled logistic regression for the years 2018–20, and
subsequent columns present the results of independent logistic regressions for each year.
Chart 3 plots the marginal effects for the year-specific regressions to show the dynamics in
the parameters across the three years.

Overall, we find lower Bitcoin awareness among female Canadians and those from Quebec.
Conversely, we estimate Canadians are more likely to be aware of Bitcoin as their levels of
education, income or financial literacy increase. These findings are consistent with descriptive
results presented in Table 1.

Panos, Karkkainen and Atkinson (2020) get similar results using microdata from 15 countries
to study financial literacy and attitudes toward cryptocurrencies. Their results show that
financially literate investors are more likely to be aware of cryptocurrencies but less likely to
own them. This suggests that the relationship between a person’s financial literacy and their
attitudes toward cryptocurrencies is determined by their perceptions of the financial risk
associated with cryptocurrency investments relative to alternative investment vehicles.

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Table 2: Marginal effects on the probability of awareness of Bitcoin, 2018–20
Variables Pooled 2018 2019 2020
Gender:
Female -0.0703*** -0.0557*** -0.0899*** -0.0752**
(0.0151) (0.0204) (0.0232) (0.0376)
Age:
35–54 -0.0463*** -0.0444** -0.0731*** -0.00258
(0.0162) (0.0215) (0.0268) (0.0368)
55 and older -0.0305* -0.0518* -0.0281 0.00861
(0.0164) (0.0284) (0.0231) (0.0526)
Education:
College / CEGEP / trade 0.0548*** 0.0518** 0.0358 0.0976**
(0.0158) (0.0235) (0.0258) (0.0422)
University 0.0639*** 0.0713*** 0.0437 0.0929**
(0.0176) (0.0264) (0.0283) (0.0463)
Income:
$30,000–$69,999 0.0165 -0.0100 0.0144 0.0770**
(0.0164) (0.0215) (0.0291) (0.0391)
$70,000 and above 0.0376** -0.00854 0.0673** 0.0622
(0.0169) (0.0257) (0.0298) (0.0469)
Region:
Prairies 0.00727 -0.0211 0.0148 0.0185
(0.0241) (0.0361) (0.0370) (0.0843)
Ontario -0.00575 -0.0156 0.00375 -0.0296
(0.0230) (0.0257) (0.0368) (0.0856)
Quebec -0.0802*** -0.0793*** -0.0858** -0.0971
(0.0242) (0.0302) (0.0399) (0.0838)
Atlantic -0.0280 -0.0735* 0.00724 -0.0371
(0.0296) (0.0431) (0.0465) (0.0937)
Labour force:
Unemployed 0.0184 0.0262 -0.0522 0.129***
(0.0253) (0.0394) (0.0602) (0.0412)
Not in labour force 0.0174 -0.00741 -0.00434 0.0881**
(0.0151) (0.0253) (0.0259) (0.0419)
Financial literacy:
Medium 0.0726*** 0.0850*** 0.0558** 0.0612
(0.0178) (0.0262) (0.0273) (0.0435)
High 0.116*** 0.115*** 0.113*** 0.103**
(0.0199) (0.0300) (0.0288) (0.0473)
Observations 5,288 1,743 1,800 1,745
Note: The marginal effects are estimated via a logistic regression. Column 1 shows the effect of each variable on the
probability of awareness of Bitcoin over the period 2018–20; columns 2 to 4 present the results by year, starting in
2018. Marginal effects are measured relative to the following benchmark group: people who are male, aged 18 to 34,
from British Columbia, high-school educated, employed, with low financial literacy and a household income below
$30,000. The Prairies region includes Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Atlantic region includes New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Weighted bootstrap standard errors
are in brackets. *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1.

9
Chart 3: Marginal effects on the probability of Bitcoin awareness, 2018–20

Note: The horizontal lines represent 95% confidence intervals. LFS is labour force status. The Prairies region includes
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Atlantic region includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island
and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Source: Bank of Canada Last observation: November 2020

3.2 Canadians’ ownership of Bitcoin

Table 3 presents Bitcoin ownership in Canada between 2016 and 2020, overall and across
demographic groups. The average share of Canadians who own Bitcoin increased from 3% in
2016 to around 5% since 2018. Ownership remained stable between 2018 and November
2020, despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Differences in Bitcoin ownership across demographic groups tell a compelling story. Overall,
we observe that most demographics followed the same patterns across years. In particular,
Canadians who were young, male, employed, and had a university degree, high household
income and relatively low financial literacy were more likely to own Bitcoin.

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Table 3: Percentage of Canadians who owned Bitcoin, 2016–20
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Overall 3.2 4.3 5.2 5.1 5.1
Gender:
Male 4.4 6.6 6.7 8.1 8.3
Female 2.2 2.1 3.7 2.2 2.1
Age:
18–34 9.1 11.1 10.5 7.8 11.0
35–54 1.6 3.2 4.9 6.7 5.6
55 and older 0.5 0.5 1.7 1.7 0.6
Education:
High school or less 3.8 3.7 2.3 3.3 3.7
College 1.5 3.1 5.7 4.3 5.1
University 4.3 6.7 9.1 8.7 7.4
Income:
Below $30,000 3.1 4.3 2.8 3.7 4.3
$30,000–69,999 3.9 5.6 4.8 3.8 4.9
$70,000 and above 3.7 4.3 7.0 6.6 5.4
Labour force:
Employed 3.9 6.1 7.1 6.8 7.3
Unemployed 7.3 1.9 5.2 0.9 3.8
Not in labour force 1.5 1.5 1.9 2.3 1.8
Region:
British Columbia 2.8 5.2 6.3 5.3 5.1
Prairies 2.1 4.1 6.0 3.9 7.6
Ontario 2.5 3.9 5.2 6.2 5.0
Quebec 5.5 5.1 4.6 4.4 3.9
Atlantic 3.2 3.1 2.8 3.8 3.3
Financial literacy:
Low 7.3 7.5 8.4
Medium 4.7 2.9 5.3
High 4.1 5.0 5.3
Note: This table reports the percentage of Canadians who answered “Yes" to “Do you currently have or own Bitcoin?"
The sample size is 1,997 in 2016; 2,623 in 2017; 1,987 in 2018; 1,987 in 2019 and 3,893 in 2020. Financial literacy scores
are calculated based on the responses of the three financial literacy questions according to Lusardi and Mitchell (2014)
(Appendix, Table A-2) and were added in the BTCOS starting in 2018. Financial literacy scores are computed by
summing the correct answers and subtracting the incorrect answers, and “don’t know” answers do not contribute to
the measure. As a result, knowledge scores take values from -3 to 3. Based on these indexes, three knowledge levels
were defined as follows: low (score <= 0), medium (score = 1 or score = 2) and high (score = 3). The Prairies region
includes Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Atlantic region includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward
Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. All estimates are calculated using survey weights.

The gender gap in Bitcoin ownership was highest in 2018 and 2019. In every year except for
2018, about 2% of women reported owning Bitcoin, while among men, ownership nearly
doubled from 4.4% in 2016 to 8.3% in 2020. 5 Another pattern that stands out concerns
financial literacy. Individuals who scored lower on the three financial literacy questions

5
Auer and Tercero-Lucas (2021) also find evidence of a widening gender gap in terms of cryptocurrency ownership
in the United States. More broadly, using data from 28 major economies, Chen, Doerr et al. (2021) find that men
are more likely than women to use financial technology products and services.

11
showed higher rates of ownership (above 7% for low literacy compared with 4% to 5% for
high literacy).

These results reveal interesting facts, specifically that Canadians who are financially literate
are more likely to be aware of Bitcoin but less likely to own it. Fujiki (2020) provides a more
detailed look at financial literacy: in contrast to our findings, Japanese cryptocurrency owners
score higher on financial literacy questions and have more financial education at school
compared with non-owners. But they are less financially literate with respect to other
indicators related to money management, financial troubles and credit card use.

Table 4 presents the results of the marginal effects of demographic characteristics and
financial literacy on Canadian’s Bitcoin ownership for the years 2018–20 and for the pooled
data, using a logistic regression. For a better visualization, Chart 4 shows the graphical
representation of these results.

Overall, marginal effects are consistent with descriptive findings already discussed. We find
that the probability of Bitcoin ownership decreases with being female, older and unemployed,
but increases with education. Furthermore, Bitcoin ownership is higher among those with low
financial literacy, as coefficient estimates for medium and high financial literacy are
statistically significant relative to the benchmark (low financial literacy score).

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Table 4: Marginal effects on the probability of Bitcoin ownership, 2018–20
Variables Pooled 2018 2019 2020
Gender:
Female -0.0619*** -0.0466*** -0.0663*** -0.0901***
(0.00981) (0.0138) (0.0172) (0.0240)
Age:
35–54 -0.0440*** -0.0668** -0.0113 -0.0634**
(0.0120) (0.0261) (0.0216) (0.0290)
55 and older -0.0810*** -0.0940*** -0.0531*** -0.101***
(0.0118) (0.0248) (0.0167) (0.0268)
Education:
College / CEGEP / trade 0.0250** 0.0379** 0.0106 0.0340
(0.0104) (0.0164) (0.0198) (0.0295)
University 0.0515*** 0.0626*** 0.0506** 0.0361
(0.0122) (0.0178) (0.0212) (0.0256)
Income:
$30,000–$69,999 0.00952 0.0215 -0.00551 0.0210
(0.0123) (0.0211) (0.0225) (0.0254)
$70,000 and above 0.0120 0.0303 0.00102 0.00809
(0.0128) (0.0191) (0.0236) (0.0247)
Region:
Prairies 0.000229 -0.00564 -0.0188 0.0305
(0.0149) (0.0241) (0.0310) (0.0360)
Ontario -0.00757 -0.0116 -0.00998 0.00437
(0.0131) (0.0206) (0.0286) (0.0294)
Quebec -0.0177 -0.0123 -0.0222 -0.0159
(0.0153) (0.0237) (0.0321) (0.0289)
Atlantic -0.0225 -0.0367 -0.0222 -0.00751
(0.0162) (0.0259) (0.0357) (0.0372)
Labour force:
Unemployed -0.0329** 0.0204 -0.0466*** -0.0628***
(0.0140) (0.0410) (0.0115) (0.0137)
Not in labour force -0.0202** -0.0217 -0.0140 -0.0303
(0.00945) (0.0153) (0.0159) (0.0186)
Financial literacy:
Medium -0.0373*** -0.0329* -0.0590*** -0.00625
(0.0120) (0.0173) (0.0199) (0.0290)
High -0.0414*** -0.0419** -0.0458** -0.0262
(0.0112) (0.0212) (0.0191) (0.0233)
Observations 5,288 1,743 1,800 1,745
Note: The marginal effects are estimated through a logistic regression. Column 1 shows the effect of each variable on
the probability of having heard of Bitcoin over the period 2018–20; columns 2 to 4 present the results by year, starting
from 2018. Marginal effects are measured relative to the following benchmark group: people who are male, aged 18 to
34, from British Columbia, high-school educated, employed, with a household income below $30,000 and low financial
literacy. The Prairies region includes Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Atlantic region includes New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Weighted bootstrap standard errors are in
brackets. *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1.

13
Chart 4: Marginal effects on the probability of Bitcoin ownership, 2018–20

Note: The horizontal lines represent confidence intervals by survey years. LFS is labour force status. The Prairies region
includes Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Atlantic region includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward
Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Source: Bank of Canada Last observation: November 2020

4 Profile of Bitcoin owners

In this section, we look more deeply at Bitcoin owners. We first report what Bitcoin owners
know about Bitcoin relative to what the overall Canadian population knows. We then provide
estimates of Bitcoin holdings. We also outline the main reasons for owning Bitcoin and how
often people use it to pay for goods or services and to make person-to-person transactions.
We then look at the changes in the share and holdings of bitcoins of past Bitcoin owners.
Lastly, we look at how Bitcoin owners obtain Bitcoin and the incidents they have faced when
using it.

4.1 Knowledge about Bitcoin

This section analyzes the state of Canadian’s knowledge about the properties of Bitcoin,
exploring the differences between Bitcoin owners and non-owners found in the BTCOS
samples.

The questions relating to how much people know about Bitcoin are reported in the Appendix
(Table A-1) and discussed further in Henry, Huynh and Nicholls (2019a; 2019b). We compute
the knowledge score by summing the correct answers and subtracting the incorrect answers,
14
while “don’t know” responses are assigned zero. As a result, knowledge scores take values
from -3 to 3. Based on these indexes, we define three knowledge levels: low (score <= 0),
medium (score = 1 or score = 2) and high (score = 3).

The average levels of Bitcoin knowledge among Canadian non-owners did not change
substantially between 2018 and 2019. The share of individuals with low Bitcoin knowledge
was about 60%, and only 6% answered all three Bitcoin questions correctly (Table 5). As
expected, Bitcoin owners were more likely than non-owners to give a correct answer.
However, in 2018 and in 2019, only around 30% of Bitcoin owners had high knowledge.

The lack of knowledge did not stop people from buying Bitcoin, as 19% of Bitcoin owners in
2018 and 28% in 2019 were classified as having low Bitcoin knowledge.

Table 5: Canadians’ knowledge about Bitcoin, 2017–19 (%)

2017 2018 2019
Overall Owners Overall Owners Overall Owners
Low 55 24 61 19 60 28
Medium 38 49 33 52 34 41
High 6 27 6 29 6 31
Note: The table reports the share of Canadians in each category of Bitcoin knowledge. The sample consists of 117
Bitcoin owners in 2017, 99 in 2018 and 89 in 2019. All estimates are calculated using survey weights.

4.2. How much Bitcoin do owners hold?

In 2018 and 2019, Bitcoin owners were asked to provide the value in Canadian dollars of the
bitcoins they currently held. From 2018 to 2019, the median value of Bitcoin holdings
decreased sharply, from around $500 to $250. To compare the holdings across years, we
grouped 2018 and 2019 numbers in ranges presented in Chart 5. Over the period, we see a
decreasing proportion of Canadians who reported holding 1 to 10 bitcoins (from 39% in 2016
to 6% in 2019) and 10 or more bitcoins (from 13% in 2017 to 5% in 2018 and 2019).
Concurrently, the share of holders with less than 1 bitcoin has increased from 54% in 2016 to
68% in 2017, 87% in 2018 and 89% in 2019.

15
Chart 5: Bitcoin holdings, 2016–19

Note: In 2018 and 2019, surveyed Bitcoin owners were asked to report their holdings as a continuous range,
denominated in Canadian dollars. For comparability across years, in 2018 and 2019, we used the prevailing price when
the survey was conducted to convert Canadian dollars to Bitcoin. The sample consists of 58 Canadians aged 18 or
older who reported they owned Bitcoin in 2016, 117 in 2017, 99 in 2018 and 89 in 2019. All estimates are calculated
using survey weights.
Source: Bank of Canada Last observation: December 2019

4.3. Reasons for owning (or not owning) Bitcoin

As noted in the introduction, widespread use of cryptocurrencies is one potential trigger
condition for the Bank to issue a CBDC in Canada. This makes it important to understand how
and why cryptocurrencies are used.

The 2017 to 2019 BTCOS surveys asked Bitcoin owners how often they use their Bitcoin
holdings to pay for goods and services (Chart 6, panel a) and how often they used them to
send money to other people (Chart 6, panel b). From 2018 to 2019, the proportion of Bitcoin
owners who never used their holdings to buy goods and services or to make person-to-
person transfers increased (from 33% to 44% for purchases, and from 42% to 53% for
transfers). Consequently, the share of Bitcoin owners who tend to use bitcoins at least a few
times a month (“often”) decreased for both types of transactions.

16
Chart 6: Frequency of Bitcoin use, 2017–19
a. Buying goods and services

b. Making person-to-person transfers

Note: “Rarely” consists of surveyed Bitcoin owners who used bitcoins for transactions at most once a year, not on a
regular basis. “Sometimes" consists of those who used bitcoins between a few times a year to once a month. “Often”
consists of those who used bitcoins at least a few times a month. The sample consists of 117 Bitcoin owners in 2017,
99 in 2018 and 89 in 2019. All estimates are calculated using survey weights.
Source: Bank of Canada Last observation: December 2019

17
In addition, Bitcoin owners were asked to indicate their primary reason for holding Bitcoin,
and non-owners who are aware of Bitcoin were asked to provide their main reason for not
owning Bitcoin. In Table 6, we group owners’ reasons for owning Bitcoin into four categories:
payments, investment, anonymity/trust and technology. In 2019, Canadians cited investment
as the most common reason (39% of owners) for owning Bitcoin, followed by technology
(31% of owners), payments (15% of owners) and anonymity/trust (15% of owners). These
results are broadly similar to those of the 2018 BTCOS.

Table 6: Main reasons for owning Bitcoin, 2016–19 (%)

Grouping Response options 2016 2017 2018 2019
I use it to buy goods and services on the internet
in Canada/elsewhere.
I use it to buy goods and services in physical
Payments 45 23 19 15
stores in Canada/elsewhere.
I use it to make remittances or other
international payments.
Investment It is an investment. 6 56 40 39
It allows me to make payments anonymously.
I do not trust banks.
Anonymity/trust 16 5 19 15
I do not trust the government or the Canadian
dollar.
I am interested in new technologies.
It uses secure blockchain technology to prevent
Technology 33 16 22 31
loss and fraud.
It is a cost saving technology.
Note: The table reports the percentage of surveyed Bitcoin owners who chose each category as their primary reason
for owning Bitcoin in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The sample consists of 58 Canadians aged 18 or older who reported
owning Bitcoin in 2016, 117 in 2017, 99 in 2018 and 89 in 2019. All estimates are calculated using survey weights.

Canadians who were aware of Bitcoin but did not own any were asked to select their main
reason for not owning Bitcoin; 27% stated that a lack of knowledge or understanding of
Bitcoin technology was the main reason, followed by the fact that their current methods of
payment meet their needs (22%) and a lack of trust in private currencies that are not backed
by the government (15%) (see Table 7). Other main reasons—related to price volatility, lack
of acceptance as a method of payment, lack of belief in the future survival of the Bitcoin
system, cyber theft and lack of regulation—each represent less than 10% of Canadians who
were aware of Bitcoin but didn’t own any. We observed a similar pattern across 2016–19.

18
Table 7: Main reasons for not owning Bitcoin, 2016–19 (%)
2016 2017 2018 2019
I do not understand/know enough about
technology. 28 32 30 27
It is not widely accepted as a method of
payment. 7 5 5 5
My current payment methods meet all my
needs. 32 23 20 22
The value of Bitcoin varies too much. 4 5 7 7
It is not easy to acquire/use. 6 6 4 4
I do not trust a private currency that is not
backed by the government. 13 10 11 15
I am concerned about cyber theft. 4 3 6 5
I am concerned about lack of oversight
from regulatory bodies. 4 3 3 4
I use alternative digital currencies instead. 0 0 0 1
I do not believe the Bitcoin system will
survive in the future. 2 8 11 8
Other 4 3 3
Note: This table provides the percentage of Canadians who had heard of Bitcoin but did not own any, including those
who used to own Bitcoin in the past. They responded to the prompt “Please name the main reason for not owning any
Bitcoin." All estimates are calculated using survey weights.

19
4.4 How do owners obtain Bitcoin?
The 2019 BTCOS added a new question addressed to Bitcoin owners: “What is the most
common way you obtain Bitcoin?” We present the results in Chart 7. In 2019, about half of
owners used cryptocurrency exchanges, either on a website (41%) or through a mobile app
(9%). Of the rest, 19% mined their own bitcoins, 9% obtained bitcoins through ATMs, 14%
obtained them from friends or family (person-to-person transfers) and 9% used other
channels. Our results suggest that most Bitcoin owners use exchanges to get their bitcoins,
but also that Canadians have a variety of access options.

Chart 7: Most common methods to obtain Bitcoin, 2019

Note: The sample consists of 89 Canadians aged 18 or older who reported they owned Bitcoin in 2019. All estimates
are calculated using survey weights.
Source: Bank of Canada Last observation: December 2019

20
To understand how Bitcoin access is distributed across different demographic characteristics,
we collapse Bitcoin access options into three groups: Bitcoin mining, cryptocurrency
exchanges (web and mobile) and other methods (ATMs, person-to-person transfers and
“other”). 6 Table 8 compares the most common access methods by demographics.

Table 8: Most common methods for obtaining Bitcoin by demographics, 2019 (%)
Web/mobile
Variables Other Mining
exchanges
Gender:
Male 32 46 22
Female 28 63 9
Age:
18–34 28 63 9
35–54 34 38 28
55 and older 33 48 19
Education:
High school or less 56 22 22
College 12 63 26
University 28 59 14
Income:
Below $30,000 12 52 36
$30,000–69,999 26 41 33
$70,000 and above 38 49 13
Region:
British Columbia 24 59 17
Prairies 44 29 27
Ontario 26 53 21
Quebec 38 55 7
Atlantic 37 27 37
Labour force:
Employed 33 48 19
Unemployed 0 41 59
Not in labour force 28 50 22
Financial literacy:
Low 51 30 19
Medium 16 73 11
High 14 63 23
Bitcoin knowledge:
Low 25 59 16
Medium 49 43 8
High 13 51 36
Note: This table reports the percentage of surveyed Bitcoin owners for each demographic who answered the question,
“What is the most common way you obtain Bitcoin?" The sample sizes for the three groupings are: other—22
observations; web/mobile exchanges—48 observations; and mining—19 observations. “Other” includes automated
teller machines, person-to-person exchanges and other options. The Prairies region includes Alberta, Saskatchewan
and Manitoba. The Atlantic region includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and
Labrador. All estimates are calculated using survey weights.

6
We need to group the Bitcoin access options in order to increase the number of observations per group because
the sample of Bitcoin owners is not large.

21
When we compare the results across the three choices for obtaining Bitcoin (web/mobile
exchanges, mining, and other), we observe that web/mobile exchanges were the preferred
options to access bitcoins in most demographic categories. Notable exceptions were owners
with low education or low financial literacy, who preferred other methods to either exchanges
or mining. Compared with men, women were more likely to acquire bitcoins through web or
mobile exchanges and less likely to use mining. Similarly, the youngest age group (18 to 34)
was more likely than older age groups to use exchanges, while less likely to use mining. 7

4.5. Crypto alternatives to Bitcoin

In addition to owning Bitcoin, some Canadians own “altcoins” (a colloquial name for other
cryptocurrencies). Table 9 presents ownership of altcoins by Canadians in 2018 and 2019.
According to the 2018 and 2019 BTCOS, altcoin ownership was very low in Canada, at about
3% for Ethereum and BTC Cash, 2% for Litecoin and below 1% for other cryptocurrencies. The
growth rate is also very small—only Ethereum registered an increase, from 1.9% in 2018 to
3.4% in 2019. In addition, about half of altcoin owners were also Bitcoin owners.

Table 9: Ownership of altcoins, 2018–19 (%)

2018 2019
Ethereum (ETH) 1.9 3.4
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) 2.9 3.6
Litecoin (LTC) 1.9 2.3
Ripple (XRP) 1.0 0.9
Ethereum Classic (ETC) 0.6 -
Dash (DASH) 0.7 -
Binance Coin (BNB) - 1.7
Tether (USDT) - 0.5
USD Cash (USDC) - 0.3
Dai (DAI) - 0.1
Other 0.7 0.8
Note: The table reports the percentage of Canadians aware of Bitcoin who owned altcoins in 2018 and 2019. The
empty cells reflect that the 2019 BTCOS added Binance Coin, Tether, USD Cash and Dai to the response options for the
question, “Do you have any of the following digital currencies?” and eliminated Ethereum Classic and Dash. All
estimates are calculated using survey weights.

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency whose price is pegged to another currency or

commodity, with the goal of providing price stability. We find that awareness of stablecoins is
still very uncommon. For instance, only 5% of Canadians who had heard of Bitcoin had also

7
We also conduct a conditional analysis to see if there are significant differences when comparing access via
“mining” and “other” means with the benchmark exchanges on websites and through mobile apps. We use a
multinomial logit methodology (Cosslett 1981), and the results suggest that individuals who obtain Bitcoin using
other means differ in education, income, labour force status and financial knowledge when they are compared
with the ones obtaining their Bitcoin using exchanges on websites and through mobile apps. At the same time,
individuals who are obtaining their Bitcoin using mining are not different in demographics from those obtaining
their Bitcoin using exchanges on websites and through mobile apps.

22
heard of stablecoins. Table 9 suggests that ownership of stablecoins is even lower: just a
fraction of a percent stated they owned the stablecoins Tether, USD Coin and Dai.

4.6 Cryptocurrency risks and incidents

Studying the financial and security risks faced by Bitcoin owners in conjunction with how they
obtain Bitcoin (section 4.4) is important when it comes to understanding their adoption
decisions. The adoption decision balances ease of use with associated risks. 8 These risks
include financial risks, such as those caused by volatility in the cryptocurrency market,
technological issues and security risks to personal data. Furthermore, cryptocurrency users
can be subject to fraudulent events—between 2017 and 2020, cryptocurrency frauds in
Canada increased more than 400% (RCMP 2021). With all this in mind, the 2019 BTCOS asked
current and past Bitcoin owners to report whether they experienced any incidents related to
cryptocurrency risks while holding Bitcoin (Chart 8).

We find that about half of past and current Bitcoin owners reported one or more such
incidents. The most common incident reported (18% of past and current owners) was a loss
of substantial value due to a cryptocurrency price crash (we note that price volatility was also
the most common reason past Bitcoin owners gave for not holding Bitcoin at the time of the
survey). In terms of issues related to the technology, 14% of past and current owners stated
they lost access to their personal cryptocurrency wallets, while 9% had problems with a
purchase made in cryptocurrency. In terms of security, 6% stated an exchange holding their
funds had been hacked, and 5% stated their personal data held on an exchange had been
compromised. Past and current owners also reported several incidents of fraud: 12% had
participated in an initial coin offering that ended up being a scam, 9 while 7% had had their
funds stolen by an exchange.

8
Kahn, Rivadeneyra and Wong (2021) show that customers will take little care about risks when liability is shared.
Even when managing their balances individually and facing the entire risk of loss, they will still prefer the easier
access found in using wallets, reusing addresses and relying on password aggregation programs.
9
Initial coin offerings (similar to initial public offerings) are a blockchain-based alternative for entrepreneurs to raise
funds (e.g., see Howell, Niessner and Yermack 2020). Some have been the subject to scams (e.g., see United States
Department of Justice 2020).

23
Chart 8: Cryptocurrency risks and incidents, 2019

Note: In 2019, 84 Bitcoin owners out of 177 reported incidents (35 past and 49 current Bitcoin owners). The total
number of reported incidents was 121, as respondents chose all options that apply to them. The chart reports the
proportion of past and current Bitcoin owners who experienced each type of incident. Respondents were asked, “Have
any of the following incidents happened to you?” and could choose the following (in order of appearance in the chart):
“A price crash caused my cryptocurrency to lose substantial value”; “Lost access to my personal cryptocurrency wallet”;
“I participated in an initial coin offering and it turned out to be a scam”; “Experienced problems with a purchase made
using cryptocurrencies”; “The cryptocurrency exchange stole my funds”; “The cryptocurrency exchange holding my
funds was hacked”; and “My personal data held by cryptocurrency exchanges were compromised.” ICO stands for
initial coin offering. All estimates are calculated using survey weights.
Source: Bank of Canada Last observation: December 2019

Next, we collapse the incidents reported by current and past Bitcoin owners into three
groups: loss of access to wallet and problems with transactions (group one—access
problems), exchange hacks, initial coin offering scams, stolen funds and data breaches (group
two—scams or hacks) and price crashes (group three—price crashes). Table 10 reports the
types of incidents reported by demographic characteristics.

We find that owners in certain demographic groups appear more likely to report scams or
hacking incidents; these include men, those aged 54 or younger, those with higher incomes
($70,000 and above), employed owners, and those with low financial literacy. Young owners
and those with low literacy were also more likely than their older and higher-literacy
counterparts to report access problems. Price crashes, in contrast, were most commonly
24
experienced by owners with a high level of education or financial literacy and by those with a
high income level. Incidents of all three types were more common among owners with
medium or high levels of Bitcoin knowledge compared to those with low knowledge. 10

Table 10: Demographic profile by incidents faced by Bitcoin owners, 2019 (%)
Variables Access problems Scams or hacks Price crashes
Gender:
Male 16 29 16
Female 26 18 21
Age:
18–34 22 30 16
35–54 20 24 23
55 and older 7 12 10
Education:
High school or less 15 29 10
College 22 22 19
University 21 26 24
Income:
Below $30,000 7 20 1
$30,000–69,999 17 21 19
$70,000 and above 23 32 23
Region:
British Columbia 11 23 16
Prairies 39 38 18
Ontario 20 20 18
Quebec 12 31 21
Atlantic 24 28 12
Labour force:
Employed 21 29 21
Unemployed 32 10 0
Not in labour force 9 17 9
Financial literacy:
Low 23 44 17
Medium 17 11 9
High 16 10 26
Bitcoin knowledge:
Low 10 18 12
Medium 19 33 18
High 31 22 25
Note: The sample sizes for the three groupings are as follows: access problems—32 observations; scams or hacks—43
observations; and price crashes—32 observations. The Prairies region includes Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The Atlantic region includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. All
estimates are calculated using survey weights.

10
We estimated a multinomial logit model (Cosslett 1981) and found that, relative to the benchmark group
(scamming and hacking), the patterns are similar to the ones described in Table 10. It is worth emphasizing that,
compared with Bitcoin owners from the benchmark group, Bitcoin owners who are not in the labour force are less
likely to have access problems, while those who have high Bitcoin knowledge are more likely to have access
problems. Alternatively, Bitcoin owners who are unemployed are less likely than benchmark group owners to be
subject to price crashes, while those with high financial knowledge are more likely to be subject to price crashes.

25
5 Conclusions
Using survey data, we study the awareness and ownership of Bitcoin in Canada between 2016
and 2020. We find that since 2018, Canadians’ awareness and ownership of Bitcoin have been
stable: nearly 90% of Canadians stated they had heard of Bitcoin and around 5% owned it.
While the demographic composition of ownership has shifted over time, Bitcoin owners are
consistently more likely to be young, male, and have higher education. Ownership of other
cryptocurrencies remained low, with ownership of stablecoins particularly rare. Even among
those who had heard of Bitcoin, only 5% had also heard of stablecoins.

The main reason for owning Bitcoin in 2019, as reported by Canadians, remained investment,
followed closely by reasons related to technology. The share of Canadians in 2019 who
owned Bitcoin because of payments fell, and Canadians were less likely than in 2018 to say
they had used Bitcoin in the past year for purchases or person-to-person transfers. In
contrast, non-owners stated that their main reasons for not owning Bitcoin included a lack of
knowledge about the technology, a lack of trust in private digital currencies and the fact that
their existing methods of payment meet their current needs.

With specialized surveys on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, we can dig deeper into the
usage habits of cryptocurrency owners. For example, Bitcoin owners have held fewer bitcoins
in their wallets over time, though this is concurrent with rising Canadian-dollar prices per
bitcoin. Bitcoin users varied in how they usually accessed the cryptocurrency. About half said
they used mobile app or web exchanges to buy Bitcoin, while one-fifth said they mostly
mined. Access to Bitcoin through ATMs was less common, at about 9%.

Cryptocurrency users can be susceptible to financial and security risks. About 18% of past and
current Bitcoin owners stated they had lost money as a result of a price crash. Furthermore,
14% of Canadians stated they had lost access to their personal wallets and 12% had
participated in an initial coin offering that ended up being a scam. The interaction between
financial literacy and participation in the market for cryptoassets is an important area to
explore. While Bitcoin owners are more knowledgeable than non-owners about Bitcoin
technology, they also perform worse on tests of financial literacy, despite having higher
education levels.

While ownership and use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain at low levels, it is
important to continue to monitor trends as the market and technologies develop. This will
allow the Bank to make informed policy decisions related to currency and financial stability.

26
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Appendix
Table A-1: Bitcoin knowledge questions
Question Response options

The total supply of Bitcoin is fixed. True/ False

Bitcoin is backed by a government. True/ False

All Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a True/ False

distributed ledger that is publicly accessible.

Note: The table reports the three Bitcoin knowledge questions, which were asked in the 2017, 2018
and 2019 BTCOS. The correct answers are in bold.

Table A-2: Financial literacy questions

Question Response options

Suppose you had $100 in a savings account and the interest More than $102/
rate was 2% per year. After 5 years, how much do you think you Exactly $102/ Less than
would have left in the account if you left the money to grow?
$102/ Do not know

Imagine the interest rate on your savings account was 1% per More than today/
year and inflation was 2% per year. After 1 year, how much Exactly the same/ Less
would you be able to buy with this money in this account?
than today/ Do not
know

Please tell me whether or not this statement is true or false: True/ False/ Do not
Buying a single company's stock usually provides a safer return know
than a mutual fund of stocks.
Note: The table reports the three financial literacy questions that were asked for the first time in the
2018 BTCOS. The correct answers are in bold.

29