Decentral Block Post

The cryptocurrency market has grown beyond many people’s expectations over the past decade. The nascent industry has managed to change mainstream perception quite significantly, especially in 2021, which saw many traditional financial institutions adopt crypto in one form or another.

Some of the biggest public companies such as MicroStrategy started using Bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury hedge, while the likes of PayPal, Mastercard and Visa paved the way for the common public to use crypto as a form of payment. While many experts are still skeptical about the use of crypto as a form of payment, given its price volatility, recent market trends and data indicate that crypto is increasingly being used to buy daily-use items.

A recent report from fintech payment infrastructure provider checkout.com that surveyed 33,000 business leaders revealed a rise in consumer interest in paying in crypto. The report indicated that 40% of 18–35-year-old consumers want and plan to use cryptocurrencies to pay for goods or services within the next year. That’s up from less than 30% last year.

The rise of digital payments aided by the COVID-19 pandemic has only made it easier for crypto to become more mainstream. People are more familiar with QR code payments today, which makes it easier for mainstream payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard to introduce crypto payments on its network without having to build a separate infrastructure.

Miles Paschini, CEO at fintech bank FV Bank, told Cointelegraph:

Bitcoin (BTC) investors in China plan to buy the dip despite an ongoing market correction and a nationwide crypto ban, a new survey shows.

Consensus sees Bitcoin at $10K

A survey of 2,200 people conducted on China-based social media platform Weibo found that 8% would buy Bitcoin when its price hits $18,000, according to Wu Blockchain. While 26% of the respondents prefer to wait until BTC reaches $15,000.

But a majority anticipated the price to fall even further with 40%, saying they would buy BTC at $10,000.

Chinese investors more cautious on Bitcoin than U.S.

Interestingly, another survey conducted by Bloomberg MLIV Pulse earlier in July yielded a similar outcome, with 60% of the net 950 respondents on Wall Street calling for a $10,000 Bitcoin price.

The two polls show a striking similarity in the bearish sentiments of crypto speculators in the United States and China. Nonetheless, on-chain activity shows that investors in the U.S. have been more bullish on Bitcoin versus their Asian counterparts since June 2022.