According to David Eastman, Yougov’s managing director for Latin America, this shows the advance of crypto in Brazil and should serve as a wake-up call for banks.
Yougov Poll Shows Some Users Would Substitute Banks With Crypto
A recent survey conducted by Yougov, an international online research data firm, has given insights into the advancement of crypto as a true money replacement in Brazil. According to a recent poll, nearly 15% of Brazilians would consider substituting the function of their bank accounts for crypto, using this alternative technology instead.
Specifically, 14.7% of the polled were open to this possibility, with 5.7% agreeing to make this decision, while 9% tend to agree with such an arrangement. However, over 60% would still disagree with using crypto instead of banks: 39.7% would definitely disagree with this, while 21.7% tend to disagree with this idea.
Those on the borderline of the argument, with no preference for any option, reached 23.9%.
According to David Eastman, Yougov’s managing director for Latin America, this should become a catalyst for a change in how banks conduct business with their customers. In a hypothetical case where these customers do leave, this would affect the income of these financial institutions, cutting a substantial amount of their revenue in the process.
“Banks will have to adopt new practices to avoid this,” Eastman told Valor Economico.
Even with the popularity of crypto and the rise of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for institutions to jump onto the crypto bandwagon in Brazil, there is still a widespread distrust of crypto. The same poll revealed that 40.4% agreed that cryptocurrencies weren’t trustworthy, with only 21.6% disagreeing with this statement.
This has to do with the elevated number of crypto-linked fraud schemes affecting Brazilians since years ago. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Brazil ranks 11th among the nations that were more affected by these scams in 2023.
Nonetheless, Brazilian authorities have moved to protect crypto investors in the enforcement arena, executing several operations tackling organizations using cryptocurrency for illicit purposes.
Read more: Operation Niflheim: Brazilian Authorities Crack Down on $9.7 Billion Crypto Money Laundering Rings
Read more: Brazilian Authorities Launch Operation Targeting Entities Facilitating Crypto Money Laundering