One of the companies that we have been very pleased to be associated with is river.com. We elected to give them a try last fall on their fully hosted Bitcoin mining service. Every touch with them has been a great experience. They are a good group of people and are very helpful. In their newsletter they just provided access to a research paper on the state of Bitcoin adoption. I find that it is even-handed. The title is “Bitcoin vs the $156 Trillion Global Payments Industry.” I have attached it below for your reading pleasure, dear friend.
Bitcoin vs the $156 Trillion Global Payments Industry
One of the interesting summaries is on page 37:
“2.4 The Motivation for Bitcoin Adoption
The main motivation for people to adopt Bitcoin has always been straightforward: profit.
According to a survey by Morning Consult, 63% of all cryptocurrency owners cite wanting
to make money as a major reason why they own it. By looking at the other major reasons
listed in the report, the actual percentage is significantly higher, but worded differently.
Nonetheless, with bitcoin’s price going up over time, different motivations have emerged:
Wealth preservation: Rather than buying Bitcoin with the expectation to make a profit,
some people buy it to avoid loss from local currency inflation or bank failures.
Portfolio insurance: Some investors buy bitcoin as a small percentage of their portfolio for
risk management purposes. If they underestimated Bitcoin’s impact and it ends up
outperforming all the other assets in their portfolio, they want to have a small allocation.
All kinds of payments: Some people adopted Bitcoin as their preferred solution for
payments, primarily remittances, due to its speed and relatively low cost compared to
some other options in certain corridors. Based on a 2021 survey by Binance, this was 11%
of all cryptocurrency owners.
Interest: People are fascinated by the technological possibilities and are interested in
Bitcoin as a hobby, or to build their career.
Necessity: As a last resort option, bitcoin is used to buy and sell goods that may be
prohibited in a country such as medicinal marijuana or a VPN service. Others use it to
continue operating if their financial access has been shut off, or to preserve their privacy.”