72% of Russians say they have never bought Bitcoin: Poll

Cryptocurrency adoption in Russia hasn’t been too fast as an overwhelming majority of Russians have apparently never bought crypto, according to a new survey.

Tangem, a Swiss-based cryptocurrency wallet provider, conducted an online survey in July to learn more about cryptocurrency investors in Russia.

No less than 72% of the 2,100 respondents claimed that they had never bought cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), which leaves Russian crypto investors in a significant minority.

Among crypto investors, only 5% of respondents said they stopped buying after their first crypto purchase. The remaining 23% indicated that they continue to buy crypto, on average, on a monthly basis.

Meanwhile, only 9% of survey participants indicated they were negative towards cryptocurrencies, while 45% of respondents said they had a positive attitude towards digital currencies, with the remaining 46% being neutral. .

According to the survey, “earnability” was the most positive thing about crypto investments, with 44% of respondents choosing to invest in crypto because of this factor. On the other hand, “lack of physical support” was listed as the biggest concern, with 68% of respondents saying they didn’t want to buy crypto for this reason.

Although the vast majority of Russians apparently haven’t been introduced to crypto investments, many are considering the possibility. Thirty-one percent of respondents said they were ready to buy crypto in the next six months, while 40% said they were still unsure about any potential crypto investment. Only 30% of participants said they were not planning any crypto purchases in the near future.

Low crypto adoption in Russia correlates with low levels of crypto awareness and education. According to data from Tangem, only 6% of respondents have a good knowledge of crypto, while 80% are only familiar with the term.

According to estimates by InDeFi CEO Sergey Mendeleev, the number of active and passive crypto users in Russia currently the amounts less than 1% of the total population of 144.4 million. He said this was likely due to the lack of legal methods to buy or sell crypto in Russia as well as the risk of funds being blocked by banks.

Related: Pro-Russian groups collected only 4% of crypto donations sent to Ukraine

On the other hand, some experts believe that the Russians have turned to crypto due to the exchange restrictions imposed by the Bank of Russia. TerraCrypto founder Nikita Vassev reportedly said that many Russians take money out of the country using stablecoins and bitcoins and then cash out in countries like Georgia or the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier this year, the Kremlin reportedly estimated that Russians owned around $200 billion worth of crypto by the end of 2021. Another survey last year suggested that 77% of Russian investors preferred Bitcoin over gold and Bitcoin. forex.