Survey: Three in Four Individuals Have No Idea What Bitcoin Is

In what could possibly be the surprise of the century (not), a survey conducted by The Street indicates that three in four people have absolutely no idea what bitcoin is, and have never heard of it.

24 percent of those surveyed say they have previously heard of the digital currency, with even fewer — 2 percent — actually owning an amount of it.

79 percent of respondents said they would never consider using bitcoin, and 80 percent of the respondents said they would rather own gold instead of bitcoin.

15 percent of 18-24 year-olds said they’d rather own bitcoin instead of gold, and 33 percent of 18-24 year-olds think bitcoin helps the U.S. Dollar (38 percent think just the opposite — that it hurts the U.S. Dollar).

If anything, the survey reminds us that bitcoin is still very much a niche interest, despite it being 5-years-old. It has, however, gained quite a to of traction in the past year (with huge increases in value), and that trend doesn’t seem to be stopping with high-profile names like TigerDirect, Virgin Galactic, and Overstock.com accepting it in exchange for goods and services.

You can view a graphic of the survey results here. (via The Street)