Image Credit: Cointelegraph

Early December 2015 Bitcoin Embassy published the Bitcoin Adoption Research Project. This online Survey was launched by our member Sani Kiljan. (also known as Sanne) We invited Sani for a hot coffee, in our warm embassy in the city centre of Amsterdam during a cold and rainy day to learn more and be updated.

What is this Bitcoin research project all about?

This research is looking into the psychological factors which influence the adoption rate of bitcoin. This research focuses on different psychological factors taken from scientific literature. I expect to find out a big difference in specially the effort expectancy, this determinant is about the degree of ease associated with the bitcoin system.

According to the literature this determinant has the biggest influence on other determinants. So if a respondent scores positive on the scale of effort expectancy the chances are high that he will also score positive on others determinants. I think it is already quite well known that bitcoin is perceived as a difficult to understand technology under the general populace. My research is there to back this up with data and provide the bitcoin sphere with knowledge about that gap between bitcoiners and non-bitcoiners on these four determinants.

What did you find out so far?

We’ve discovered that there is a big difference between bitcoin users and non-bitcoin users on the determinant “effort expectancy”, this determinant is about, like I said before, the degree of ease of use associated with the bitcoin technology. To rephrase this: The interim data shows that non-bitcoin users have a far higher expectation on the effort needed to understand and manage the bitcoin system. A statistically big difference is found on this. In simple terms this means the bitcoin technology is perceived as very difficult to understand for non-bitcoin users. This can be an important reason for this group to not adopt or consider using bitcoin.

What else have you found out so far?

We’ve managed to find some pretty interesting statistics so far and will share our final results with the bitcoin community at large once we received the desired amount of respondents. (*Hint: Fill out the Survey!)

According to the literature the factor “effort expectancy”, the degree of ease associated with the bitcoin system, is the most important factor when it comes to the adoption of technology. This is because this factor influences the other factors in a big way. That is also found in these interim results. A big correlation is found between Export Expectancy and the other psychological factors. Meaning that if a respondent would score high on Performance Expectancy, the chances are high that one would also score high on the other factors. Meaning that if we manage to get someone to score higher on Effort Expectancy, that person would also think more positive on other aspects of bitcoin like how useful the system is or the degree of risk associated with it.

What are the implications of these interim results?

In my opinion this research is evidence that the bitcoin technology is still perceived as too difficult to use by a substantial part of the populace. Therefore if we, as a bitcoin community, want to give the bitcoin adoption a boost we need we need to level this huge difference. As bitcoin community there are two ways we can reach this point. Make applications easier to understand, educate more non-bitcoin users about the bitcoin system. A combination of these two is also possible of course. How to reach this goal is a good topic for a discussion in which we hope you, Bitcoiners, Bitcoin companies and others will all participate and contribute.

Do you have anything else you want to share with us?

I’m really looking forward to sharing the final results with the world and those results will also be made (publicly) available this website for anyone to learn from and use in whatever way they seem fit. Being an active member of the Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam I realize how important this is and to do the best we can in facilitating the bitcoin world with all kinds of resources. If you, the reader, have any suggestions about this or other Bitcoin related market reasearch projects, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. Thank you all for participating!