Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption has failed to support the bitcoin price this year, with fears around sluggish bitcoin uptake weighing on investors and companies in the crypto space.
After bitcoin's epic bull run last year, many expected bitcoin and cryptocurrency use to explode in 2018, however, with delays to institutional investment and products, and many speculators eager to cash out and count their profits, bitcoin adoption appears to have stalled.
Now, a new survey out of China shows surging interest in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency, with many keen to invest in crypto in the future.
Bitcoin has struggled this year after the bitcoin price surged to an eye-watering near $20,000 12... [+]
The survey, carried out by blockchain company PANews and first published by local crypto news outlet 8btc.com, found 40% of 4,200 respondents said they would be willing to invest in bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in the future, while half of all respondents had at least heard the terms "cryptocurrency", "digital currency" or "bitcoin."
However, 63% of those asked said they don't think bitcoin or cryptocurrencies are required as a means of payment and just 22% said they were aware of blockchain-powered tokens.
China has become an important country for bitcoin and cryptocurrency in recent years, with some expressing concern that China's bitcoin mining dominance gives it too much control over the burgeoning digital token. Beijing-based Bitmain Technologies now mines more than half the world’s bitcoins, according to some reports.
The survey comes as bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market remains deep in negative territory for the year, with many major coins losing more than 80% of their value over the course of the year.
As bitcoin has dropped in value, investors have fretted not just over slow adoption among retailers and consumers, but also delays to long-awaited institutional investment, and the ever-present threat of tougher regulation.
The bitcoin price has fallen almost 80% since its yearly high in January.
CoinDeskSome investors have predicted the new year will revitalize the struggling market, with many hoping interest in bitcoin futures from major stock exchanges and the highly-anticipated Bakkt cryptocurrency platform, due for launch in January, will jump start another bull run.
Previous surveys have revealed similar findings, with one bitcoin survey, carried out by respected pollsters YouGov in November, finding that one in five people in the U.K. think bitcoin will be "as common as cash or card" payments in future.
Earlier this year, a Coinbase survey found that U.S. students were twice as likely as the country’s average to own cryptocurrency.
