“Bitcoin is the future of money," reads a BitPanda ad campaign. BitPanda, an Austrian crypto start-up, launched its exchange this week after raising 43.6 million Euros from its IEO.
Not so, says a recent survey from Austrian ING Bank. “Bitcoin has few friends in Austria,” reads the title of its latest survey, released in the past few days.
The Austrian bank found that crypto sentiment has ebbed in many of the world’s largest economies. ING surveyed almost 15,000 adults across Europe, the U.S. and Australia, and over 1,000 in Austria.
Among 15 countries surveyed in Europe, Australia, and the U.S, the survey found that most skeptics were in Austria, with only 13 percent holding positive opinions about cryptocurrencies.
Sentiment is generally higher in the USA than in Europe’s strongest economies. In the U.S., 31 percent hold positive feelings about cryptocurrencies.
But elsewhere in Europe, crypto sentiment is high in Turkey (62%), Romania (44%), and Poland (43%).
But ING says that the trend of Bitcoin euphoria is generally weakening, rather than strengthening. Today, only 20 percent of Austrians feel that crypto is the digital currency of the future, three percent down from 2018.
“The ING International Survey shows very clearly what the Austrians value–namely security in payment transactions and investment. Risk or strong price fluctuations want to be avoided as much as possible. So it is not surprising that crypto money does not find fertile ground in this country,” comments an expert at ING on the survey.
Perhaps Bitpanda would have been wise to wait a couple weeks. Its own coin, BEST, which started trading last Wednesday, promptly halved in value and has since settled at around 75% of its ICO value.