Measuring Consumer Cryptocurrency Adoption and Use in the United States

• Activity Number: 63 - Cryptocurrency Surveys: Challenges and Results from Central Banks
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, July 28, 2019 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Kevin M. Foster*
• Companies: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
• Keywords: Survey methodology; Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Federal Reserve; Central banks

Abstract

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's annual Survey of Consumer Payment Choice measures how consumers make decisions surrounding what payment instruments to adopt and use. In addition to traditional payment instruments such as cash, checks, credit cards and debit cards, the survey has been asking questions about cryptocurrency since 2014. In this presentation we will explore results from the past five years of surveys, including the most recent survey in October of 2018, which was the first survey after the big run up in Bitcoin prices in December 2017. The presentation will also review the evolution of the cryptocurrency questions in the survey. Finally, we will highlight some of the challenges of adminstering surveys to hard-to-reach populations, in this case, cryptocurrency adopters.