• Digital asset awareness surges across many regions, but several people fail to understand the true concept behind the terms.
• Nigeria, Brazil, and South Korea lead the youthful drive of NFTs and Web3 despite recent perceived setbacks by authorities.
• The majority of survey participants viewed blockchain and cryptocurrencies as the “future of money”, while few associated it with scams and money laundering.

Web3 adoption around the world is growing across all age demographics, although many seem to be lost in the actual meaning of the world.

A recent survey conducted by Ethereum software company, Consensys and YouGov shows an unprecedented rise in the growth of digital assets across all continents. The poll featured 15,000 participants who were quizzed on several areas, including their drive behind the technology, perspectives on the web3, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and regulation among others.

92% of participants acknowledged that they have little knowledge of digital assets, as expected, but only 8% knew the intricacies of web3. This shows a massive disparity between the industry’s analysis of web3 and the general public. Web3 seeks to push innovation to current web2 challenges tailored to giving users control over their content, data, and privacy.

Polled participants also showed a wider acceptance of the general description of crypto as the “future of money” and an “alternative to traditional finance.” Only 8% regarded virtual currencies to be mostly associated with fraudulent activities like money laundering. Among participating continents, Europeans viewed cryptos more negatively, especially related to gambling.

Although the majority of votes showed that people are not familiar with the technicalities behind NFTs, 41% voted for improved usage of the tokens in the future. While 76% of Uk participants have never owned NFTs, Vietnam posted more adoption, with only 26% not owning NFTs. As a store of value, 56% of Argentinians were driven to own assets as a result of an unstable local currency. 

Nigeria and South Korea Lead Adoption Drive

According to the report, participants in Nigeria recorded a 78% understanding of general digital asset knowledge and awareness of its potential. This was followed by South Korea with 63% while South Africa and Brazil recorded 61% and 59% respectively. On NFT awareness and usage, 56% of Americans who participated said they were either very or fairly familiar with the concept. 

Generally, over 50% of participants in Nigeria, India, and the United States knew the details of web3, NFTs, and regulations. Another salient point the survey covered was data privacy, a major flaw of web2. Over 67% believe that users should be in total control of the internet, while 79% feel that their data is best in their hands without any third party. While participants from countries with strong data privacy laws did not collectively vote for a change in the status quo, countries without those laws, like Latin American and African countries, did.