Cornell Study: Bitcoin Adoption Highest Where Banking Fails

Bitcoin is widely known, yet many owners hold only a shallow understanding of it.

For holders of the top digital asset, the coin seems to address issues such as inflation or unreliable banking systems.

These conclusions come from a study by Cornell, a U.S. Ivy League institution, which surveyed close to 26,000 individuals worldwide on Bitcoin.

The university's Bitcoin Adoption Index report identified El Salvador, Venezuela, and Nigeria as the nations with the largest share of residents who have ever possessed bitcoin.

“Ranked by the share of all respondents who have ever owned bitcoin, the leaders are not wealthy financial centers — they are economies where the national currency has been unstable and everyday access to dollars or reliable banking is hard,” the report read.  

“In each, bitcoin functions less as a speculative bet and more as a practical workaround.”

Despite this, Cornell discovered that explaining the basics of Bitcoin's protocol was challenging for the majority, particularly the total number of bitcoins that will ever be created. Indeed, 58% of respondents indicated they were unaware that the supply has a fixed limit of 21 million coins.

Nevertheless, beyond the technical complexities, the digital currency has shown itself to be useful for practical usage, according to the report.

An unnamed Venezuelan told the survey team that Bitcoin is “faster, cleaner, and much less risky” compared with alternative ways to obtain dollars locally.

Another Salvadoran participant reportedly told the researchers: “When nobody controls [bitcoin], it means we all have control of it.”

A Nigerian respondent is said to have informed the Cornell team: “I’ve been to six African countries and whenever I go there, I don’t fear it because I know I can spend my bitcoin.”

Venezuela saw Bitcoin adoption begin to rise earlier than other nations, driven by hyperinflation that devastated its economy and tight currency restrictions that made accessing U.S. dollars challenging.

In 2021, El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar. The nation's president acknowledged that encouraging citizens to use the digital currency was challenging, yet the Central American country continues to state that it purchases bitcoin for its state treasury.

Nigeria, which has recorded some of the globe's highest Bitcoin transaction volumes, has seen residents use the cryptocurrency as a savings tool to bypass the naira's devaluation.

The study was conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Cornell University, in collaboration with the Tech Policy Institute within the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, the Cornell Bitcoin Club, the Human Rights Foundation, and the Reynolds Foundation.

A total of 25,880 individuals across 25 nations were surveyed from December 16, 2024, to March 10, 2025, with 125 separate questions asked.