Americans Really Don’t Trust Crypto, Pew Survey Shows
Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images
New technologies are often frightening. Then, over time, people get a little familiar with them—and often still wouldn’t touch them with a 10-foot pole. That would be you, cryptocurrency.
Yesterday, the Pew Research Center published the results of a survey showing that 88% of Americans have heard at least something about crypto, and three quarters of these people are either not confident (36%) or not at all (39%) on the safety and reliability of virtual currencies. Only 6% are very or extremely confident in crypto.
Of course, hearing about something and experiencing it are two different things, and Pew’s research shows that those who have invested in crypto (around one-sixth of American adults, who tend to be wealthier, younger men) are somewhat more likely to find it. reliable – only 43% of this group lack confidence in it. Americans aged 50 or older are less likely to be confident about crypto, as are women.
On the plus side for Team Crypto, 69% of those who have invested in, traded or used cryptocurrencies still have some. The results don’t indicate how much they still have, but for those who don’t need to liquidate their holdings, I guess it makes sense to avoid selling in a crypto winter.
As it happens, Bitcoin is on an upward trajectory at the moment, having broken past the $30,000 mark for the first time since the middle of last year. But that is not necessarily an expression of confidence in Bitcoin as such – it probably has more to do with the expectation that central banks will stop raising interest rates.
There is absolutely no reason to believe that regulators are going to become less hostile to crypto in the near future, especially given recent actions such as the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s civil suit against Binance and its CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, due to alleged violations of compliance. .
Speaking of which, read Jeff John Roberts and Yvonne Lau’s exclusive interview with the otherwise quiet-these-days Zhao, which delves deep into his formative experiences in Canada and China—and even his relationship with his brilliant but aloof father. And don’t forget to check out Fortune’its new Crypto 40 list, which shows how, even though confidence in cryptocurrencies is bleak these days, many blockchain technologists are still building quality companies.
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David Meyer
Data Sheet’s daily news section was written and curated by Andrea Guzman.
NEW
Twitter becomes X corp. Twitter Inc.” no longer exists as a Delaware-based company. Elon Musk registered two new businesses in Nevada in early March, then filed to merge those Nevada businesses with two of his existing companies, demanding that the well-known X Corp. was to buy Twitter outright, Slate reports. The SEC-approved name for Twitter’s $13 billion bank loan is known as Project X, and Musk has previously said that this purchase will help create an “all app” called X.
Microsoft’s enigmatic cloud gaming announcement. Microsoft announced a 10-year gaming partnership with British telecom company EE on Monday. Microsoft exec Phil Spencer tweeted that the agreement involves cloud-based gaming with Xbox PC games as well as Activision Blizzard titles. As the Verge notes, however, EE does not operate a cloud gaming service. The deal comes as Microsoft’s planned $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard faces scrutiny from British antitrust regulators.
Chinese tech giants announce ChatGPT competitors. Alibaba Group said on Tuesday it will install its “Tongyi Qianwen” chatbot in its smart speakers and its office chat software, with plans to integrate the new technology into all its services. It also offers access to corporate customers for “beta testing.” It comes on the heels of an announcement by AI developer SenseTime, which unveiled a chatbot known as SenseNova on Monday. CEO Xu Li showed the bot writing an email and code following user prompts.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
18 billion dollars
—The amount which Hyundai invests in South Korea’s electric vehicle industry through 2030. On Tuesday, Hyundai Motor Group held a groundbreaking for its first EV plant, which is expected to start production in 2025.
IN CASE YOU’RE GOING TO DO IT
How Binance Turned Ordinary People Connecting Crypto Into Millionaires: Inside Its 26,000-Person Influencer Armyby Alexandra Sternlicht and Shawn Tully
Nintendo shares rise after Mario movie’s record-breaking opening, but company still navigates ‘uncharted territory’ amid slowing salesby Nicholas Gordon
FTX executives “internally joked” about losing track of millions in assets, misappropriated client funds and “stifled dissent,” new debtor report says.by Will Daniel
AI could lead to a “nuclear-level disaster” according to a third of scientists, a new Stanford report findsby Tristan Bove
Watch out, Tesla: China’s biggest electric car maker wants to take on the worldby Vivienne Walt
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
Get ready for kick off. YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket subscriptions are on pre-sale today. The company is selling the add-on to subscribers of the YouTube TV Base plan at $249 for the season. Users can also get NFL Sunday Ticket and NFL RedZone bundles for the season during the presale. Both packages provide access to all local, national and out-of-market games and will increase by $100 when the pre-sale ends on June 6. Last December, YouTube acquired streaming rights to NFL Sunday Ticket in a deal that reportedly cost Google $2 billion per season, TechCrunch reports.
