Coindesk Research has published the results from its State of Blockchain Q2 2018 research. The findings show the extent of cryptocurrency adoption across all political ideologies, notably finding the number of liberals has surpassed those with a libertarian ideology.
Key findings
Of 1,200 participants, the responses were broken down into categories as so: 27% liberals, 24% libertarians, 21% conservatives, 9% centrists, 9% socialists, 8% anarcho-capitalists, and 3% nihilists.
Considering the results in a strictly political left versus right, 52% of those in the cryptocurrency space fall on the right side of the spectrum, with 45% on the left.
Ideology by coin
Ethereum (ETH), EOS and Ripple (XRP) were ranked most favorably with those on the left, while DASH, Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) were favored by a larger majority of those on the right.
XRP also shows the largest cluster towards more centrist politics when broken down into individual categories, as Monero (XMR) attracts those from the most extreme side of each spectrum and claiming the largest total number of anarcho-capitalists at 36%.
How and why
Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin particularly are still generally considered popular by those who believe in limited or no government centralization, and who trust in the free market such as libertarians and anarcho-capitalists. This was certainly the case in the early days of Bitcoin, but the changing shape of the market and individual cryptocurrencies over time has attracted those from all corners of political preference.
55% of respondents in Coindesk’s Q1 survey said that they did not begin actively watching the cryptocurrency industry until 2017; this is when greater financial incentives came in to play for the general population as they learned about Bitcoin. Prior to Bitcoin becoming seen as a profitable investment, much of the community pursued it out of their own libertarian, or similar, ideology. The profit motive attracted a group of people that represent the general population far more closely.
When it comes down to specific cryptocurrencies, the nuances of the leadership structure largely correlates with the beliefs in one’s political ideology. As the Bitcoin Sign Guy said, cryptocurrencies with increased central leadership or governance attract a higher percentage of those who identify as socialist.
What to take from the survey
With just 1,200 participants, the survey is perhaps not quite substantial enough to provide a definitive representation of political ideologies in the field, but it is certainly an interesting starting point.
Considering the percentage of the community that supports regulations and government acceptance of cryptocurrencies, it is not all too surprising to see this variety of political opinion.
Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bitcoinnewscom
Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com at https://t.me/bconews
Image Courtesy: Pixabay
