The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) states that Less than 1% of people in Australia have paid for goods using cryptocurrency, according to a study conducted yesterday.

The findings were revealed in the triennial Consumer Payments Survey (CPS) released by the RBA. They came from around 1,100 respondents and shown that while consumers in the country prefer digital or alternative methods of payment, they’re still not that into crypto. The survey was conducted last year, in October and November.

In spite of the fact that many study respondents said they’re aware of crypto's and that they can be used for services, but only a low number of the people participating in the study reported to have used crypto.

More than 80% of those questioned said they’ve heard of it, which means crypto occupies the third position among the most recognized alternative methods of payment. Tap and go payments with mobile devices and buy now pay later services are on the first two positions.

The respondents using WeChat Pay, AliPay, the bank-provided Beem It and PayID services, or other in-app mobile payment solutions said they were not using crypto at all. The survey shows that crypto’s usage-to-awareness ratio is the lowest. Here’s RBA’s opinion on the matter:

“Although many respondents had heard of ‘cryptocurrencies’, very few had used a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin to actually make a consumer payment over the past year.”

The RBA has previously had doubts about the potential of crypto ever replacing the existing payment methods. The central bank's CPS use of cryptocurrencies survey on the matter was the first survey done, having a total of 5 of them conducted in the past. It seems Australians were using less cash in 2019, especially those respondents who haven’t yet reached the age of 40.

As a matter of fact, this specific group of people used cash for only 15% of the transactions they made. More than this, the survey discovered that even the seniors are no longer using cash either, although it’s their most popular payment method. The most used payment methods now are mobile ones, especially in the young demographics age group.

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