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What Motivates People to Use Bitcoin?

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Social Informatics (SocInfo 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 10047))

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Abstract

Bitcoin, a virtual currency that employs a novel technology that engenders trust and value in a decentralized peer-to-peer network, has exploded in use since it was first introduced in 2009. Yet, despite this explosive growth, researchers have barely started to investigate who uses Bitcoin, how and why they are used, and what the growth of virtual currency means for society. This paper examines Bitcoin as a currency, software platform, and community. It discusses the background of the virtual currency and presents the results of one of the first exploratory surveys to ask Bitcoin users and nonusers alike their opinions about Bitcoin and how these opinions relate to personal and cultural values. We examine how these views about Bitcoin are informed by attitudes towards money, technology, government, and social structure.

By comparison, according to the World Bank, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product for 2013 was $16.8 trillion. See http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Paul Krugman (see references) uses both “Bitcoin” and “BitCoin” in just one New York Times op-ed.

  2. 2.

    Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has been one of the most enthusiastic advocates for Bitcoin and the promise of its technology, but, as many note, his firm has invested a significant amount of money in Bitcoin-related ventures and has an interest in seeing the system succeed. See, for example, the comments of computer scientist and virtual currency researcher Robert McGrath at http://robertmcgrath.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/andreessen-changes-tune-agrees-with-me-about-bitcoin/. See also Alec Liu. Jan. 13, 2014. Why Silicon Valley (and Google) Loves Bitcoin. Motherboard. Available at http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/why-silicon-valley-and-google-loves-bitcoin.

  3. 3.

    The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their insight and for suggesting these groups as possible future groups to study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA

    Masooda Bashir & Beth Strickland

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA

    Jeremiah Bohr

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  1. Masooda Bashir
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Correspondence to Masooda Bashir .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Emma Spiro

  2. Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

    Yong-Yeol Ahn

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Bashir, M., Strickland, B., Bohr, J. (2016). What Motivates People to Use Bitcoin?. In: Spiro, E., Ahn, YY. (eds) Social Informatics. SocInfo 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10047. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47874-6_25

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