If more and more French people have heard of cryptocurrencies, NFTs remain a confidential investment, only known to a handful of young insiders. However, the trend could be reversed over the next few years.
Cryptocurrencies have not finished being talked about. According to a survey carried out by Ifop (1) On behalf of Cointribune, their notoriety is growing rapidly. More than 82% of you know them today, compared to barely 58% in February 2021. And only a handful of diehards (12%) have never heard of bitcoin.
After reaching his historical high last November 12, $69,000the queen of cryptocurrencies has seen its price drop by almost half and is trading today for $44,000. Not enough to worry connoisseurs who, for 41% of them, expect a rise in digital currencies in 2022.
Bitcoin: can its price still soar in 2022?
1 out of 4 French people ready to pay in bitcoin
If for 79% of respondents, cryptocurrencies are a product purely speculativesome see it as a new payment method. Nearly a quarter of respondents (24%) say they are ready make a bitcoin transaction. And a minority of them (15%) would even agree to be country in bitcoin.
However, in reality, few have already taken the plunge. And this, even though several e-merchants already accept payments in cryptocurrency, like Grgory Perrachon, president of the Donga platform. We have been accepting payment in bitcoins and other cryptos like litecoin and ethereum for 2 or 3 years. We accepted them because there is no reason not to accept a payment that has value. On the other hand, it must be admitted, these payments in cryptos are exceptional, he confided MoneyVox.
If cryptocurrencies are still mostly considered as fashion freaks or speculative, explains Guillaume Moret-Bailly, development director of Cointribune, it is because their media coverage is essentially based on prices. But beyond these announcement effects, the market is structured day after day, a real ecosystem is being built.
For the expert, the parallel can be drawn with the beginnings of the Internet: what was initially a matter for insiders, is gradually becoming more democratic through the uses made of it and made available to the general public, without the latter does not need to understand everything about the technical process.
Bitcoin: what is it used for on a daily basis?
Bitcoin: secure sites for trading in our exclusive comparison
NFTs remain unknown
More recent, NFTs (for non-fungible tokensor non-fungible tokens) remain on the other hand quite confidential. One in four French people have already heard of these blockchain-backed digital title deeds. But only 8% understand what it is, and only a tiny minority (3.5%) have already bought NFTs.
The youngest, by contrast, seem to favor these new types of assets: 45% of 18-34 year olds who are familiar with NFTs have already invested, or say they are ready to do so. Among respondents, 57% believe that the NFT market will continue to grow. Despite everything, few people consider NFTs as a reliable long-term investmentand nearly 62% of people under 34 see NFT as primarily a fun product.
The NFT market, almost non-existent a year ago, now weighs more than 40 billion dollars, according to the Chainalysis platform. In 2021, Google searches for NFTs had exceeded those for bitcoin, a sign of strong interest in this new market.
(1) Ifop study for Cointribune.com carried out by self-administered online questionnaire from January 19 to 24, 2022 with a sample of 2,003 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over.
Savings: why investors, artists and celebrities are flocking to NFTs