An independent research survey published today examined Singapore’s awareness, adoption, trust, and confidence in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, finding a 63 of 100 rating for the Asian country.
The Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI) is a research survey performed by the Australian bitcoin exchange Independent Reserve. The company attempts to measure how diffused bitcoin and cryptocurrency are in a particular country by evaluating a set of criteria.
Regarding awareness, the study found that 90% of Singaporeans have heard of Bitcoin, while nearly 40% own it. It also found that 57% of respondents have a preferred cryptocurrency, out of which 45% consider Bitcoin their favorite.
When it comes to adoption, 82% of Singaporeans that own cryptocurrencies HODL bitcoin. Of all bitcoin owners, around 45% are male investors, while almost 30% are female investors, the study found.
But the most compelling data point the survey showed probably relates to how Singaporeans view Bitcoin. The majority of respondents consider it an investment asset, 39%, while 25% see it as a store of value. Only 12% of Singaporeans see Bitcoin as money.
The above numbers are interesting because they accurately reflect Bitcoin’s current stage of monetization. Bitcoin is arguably moving from a collectible asset to an established store of value as adoption grows and the market matures.
Vijay Boyapati demonstrated in The Bullish Case for Bitcoin that we cannot expect any nascent money to be considered a complete monetary good right off the bat, citing marginalist economist William Stanley Jevons. It takes time for it to become established in society.
The natural course for the total monetization of monetary goods consists of four steps as adoption increases. It starts as a collectible good, moves to become a store of value, then a medium of exchange, and lastly a unit of account. The last step can only be achieved once that money becomes widely adopted in the world.
Although Bitcoin’s value proposition may look evident for those that have put in work to study and understand it, on a global scale, it is still far from being so.
But as Bitcoin adoption grows worldwide, more people may start realizing that it is not only money but the hardest one ever created. They will drop the “Bitcoin is a non-correlated asset” point of view as Bitcoin perception fluidly shifts towards, and follows, its full monetization.