Social trading firm eToro released the results of a survey covering a number of different questions surrounding cryptocurrency this Tuesday. The survey, which was carried out by eToro’s US division, suggests that there is a shortage of decent cryptocurrency educational materials on offer.
For instance, 69 percent of all respondents to the survey, including those who held cryptocurrency, said they were interested in learning more about digital assets.
Of those who didn’t hold any cryptocurrency, approximately 75 percent said that they were not knowledgeable about the asset class. More worryingly, 20 percent of those who did hold cryptocurrencies said the same.
Amongst the people that said they weren’t knowledgeable about cryptocurrencies, almost half said that this lack of knowledge was what prevented them from investing in the asset class.
Significantly, 97 percent of Millennial and Gen-X respondents to the survey, who had invested in cryptocurrency, said they were interested in learning more about cryptocurrency assets.
Though men and women diverged in their self-belief, with 74 percent of women saying they lacked cryptocurrency knowledge as opposed to 54 percent of men, the two sexes were equal in their desire to learn more about cryptocurrency. According to eToro, 61 percent of both genders were interested or very interested in more cryptocurrency education.
eToro survey – a warning for the future
Of course, the sophists’ conclusion of all of this would be more education is going to lead to more investors. But someone saying that a lack of knowledge is preventing them from investing doesn’t mean that having that knowledge would lead to them investing. After all, it wouldn’t be illogical to study cryptocurrencies, think they’re garbage and never invest in them.
For retail brokers, a paucity of knowledge could be both a blessing and a curse. Unscrupulous firms are, as they so often have before, almost certain to take advantage of people’s ignorance and convert it into investments that line their pockets.
Those that are more forward-looking should be concerned by current educational materials. Forums and social media sites, especially YouTube, are populated by less than savory characters who are much more interested in receiving introductory commissions than providing real educational content.
Such people not only cultivate stupidity amongst retail traders, which in turn spurs a short-term, burn and churn business model for brokers, but they also perpetuate the image of the cryptocurrency market as being a haven for scammers, hucksters, and con-men.
Thus, some more official educational materials and certificates would be a boon – not just for traders that want to learn more but for cryptocurrency companies that want to bolster the image of the industry.
(Photo: flickr)
