Latin America more upbeat about crypto than U.S.

As the Biden administration continues to try and close all doors to the crypto sector, adults in Latin American countries are far more bullish on a crypto future.

According to surveys carried out by data analytics company Morning Consult, Latin Americans have a “sunnier forecast” for crypto than their counterparts in the U.S., as regards using it for legal tender and a reliable form of payment.

Adults in the four Latin American countries of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico were surveyed, as well as adults in the United States. For all the questions asked, adults in the U.S. were far more downbeat on crypto.

An initial three questions were asked in the format of whether the adults from the 5 countries would “agree that crypto is very, or somewhat likely to:”

1. Exist in 10 years
2. Become a reliable source of payment
3. Become a reliable investment

The respondents were split into “All adults”, and “Crypto owners”. 

For this question, adults in the U.S. were actually fairly bullish, with 82% of crypto holders believing that cryptocurrencies would be around in 10 years, although for all adults, this figure was only 51%. 

90% of Argentinian crypto holders agreed with this statement, while all other Latin American countries were higher than 81%. With the Argentinian Peso performing so shockingly badly, this was perhaps to be expected.

For the same reason, 80% of Argentinian crypto holders thought that crypto could become a reliable source of payment, and 77% believed that it could become a reliable investment.

For both these last two questions, only 38% of all U.S. adults thought that crypto could become a reliable source of payment, as well as a reliable investment. The extremely negative stance of their government towards crypto, backed up by the very unfavourable mainstream media coverage could have something to do with this.

The Morning Consult findings ended by quoting Agnes Gambill West, a visiting senior research fellow for decentralised finance, based at the George Mason University, who expressed the opinion that the U.S. could “fall behind its global peers” given that regulators tended to focus on “enforcement actions, rather than progress on actual regulatory frameworks.”

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice