Public Perception of Virtual Assets and Tokenized Money

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report shares the results of a survey conducted in 2024 that gauged the attitudes and perceptions of the Hong Kong population towards virtual assets (VA) and tokenized money. The survey followed a two-phase survey on virtual assets conducted in the previous year and collected 5,863 valid responses over a three-week period. By understanding public sentiment, the report aims to support informed decision-making by policymakers, regulators, and finance professionals that align with public preferences, fostering the growth of the VA sector. Virtual Assets: Consistency in Public Awareness, Changes in Interest and Preferences over Time Part I of the survey focused on investigating respondents’ views and experiences with virtual assets, including their awareness and understanding of virtual assets, experience with investing in virtual assets, and preferences related to virtual asset investments. Results from the latest survey were compared with those from the last two surveys conducted in the previous year, providing insights into how the public’s perceptions and preferences have changed over time: 1. The awareness of virtual assets among the Hong Kong adult population has remained consistently high since April 2023, with more than 83% respondents aware of virtual assets and only a small variation of less than 3.5 percentage points across all three surveys. In this latest survey, 86.54% of respondents indicated their awareness of virtual assets. 2. The population’s understanding of virtual assets has remained consistently low, with less than 3% of respondents reporting a full understanding of virtual assets. Across all three surveys, approximately 30% of respondents reported having at least some understanding of virtual assets, while about 70% indicated they had little to no understanding. 3. There is an ongoing uncertainty about virtual assets, while interest in holding virtual assets fluctuated amid external influences. Across all three surveys, at least 40% of the respondents indicated uncertainty in holding virtual assets in the future. Interest dropped by 7.13 percentage points and disinterest increased by 13.45 percentage points in the second survey, while the results were at similar levels between the first and third surveys. These fluctuations indicated that the negative impact caused by the JPEX incident around the second survey had diminished, and interest in holding virtual assets had rebounded. 4. Bitcoin is significantly more popular than other types of virtual assets, and has displayed an upward trend over time. Over 70% of respondents expressed interest in holding Bitcoin across all three surveys. Interest in Bitcoin has shown an upward trend, growing by 7.25 percentage points to reach 80.73% in the latest survey. In contrast, NFTs have shown a downward trend, with a drop of 11.41 percentage points to 13.01% in the latest survey.