A recent survey by the Bank of Canada has found that less than 3% of Canadians have used Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies for everyday transactions over the past two years. The survey also revealed that Canadians still have a strong preference for cash and bank cards when making payments, despite a general increase in the use of alternative payment methods over the last decade.
Of the various alternatives to cash and cards, most Canadians surveyed indicated a preference for e-transfers, a method of transferring money using email addresses or phone numbers. Meanwhile, the use of cryptocurrencies for payments remains the least popular method in Canada, with only 2.2% of respondents using them in 2022 and 2.5% in 2023.
The survey also found that over 80% of Canadians have no plans to stop using cash in the future, which has been a consistent trend since 2019. This widespread reluctance to go cashless is cited as the primary reason for the slow adoption of cryptocurrencies in Canada.
Despite the slow adoption of cryptocurrencies, Canada continues to have a thriving Bitcoin ATM ecosystem, hosting the second-largest network of crypto ATMs globally, with 2,941 active Bitcoin ATMs.
On the other hand, the Bank of Canada is actively pursuing financial innovation and recently opened a new innovation hub in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), called the BIS Toronto Innovation Centre. The hub will focus on open finance, next-generation financial market infrastructures, and central bank digital currencies, with a focus on Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean.