More than half of Australians think Elon Musk invented Bitcoin: Survey

Australians' knowledge of cryptocurrency could use some improvement, as more than half of them think that Elon Musk created Bitcoin (BTC), according to a new survey.

Finder, Australia’s most visited comparison website, conducted a survey of 1,004 Australians to find out more about what they know about crypto, The Australian reports Wednesday.

According to the survey results, 56% of Australians are not aware of mysterious Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, believing that Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Musk is the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency. A significant number of respondents also did not know that the Bitcoin supply is limited to 21 million coins, with 44% of them thinking that Bitcoin has unlimited supply just like fiat money.

The survey also found that many Australians are already in crypto or willing to get into the industry, with 25% of respondents either owning or planning to own crypto by the end of 2021. Despite a remarkable willingness to buy crypto, as many as 20% of Australians don’t know how to buy it, according to the survey.

Finder’s new survey comes in conjunction with the firm launching a bitcoin trading service through its app. 

Finder co-founder and CEO Fred Schebesta said that the new service will help Australians move into crypto. “We‘ve removed all the complexity and with the Finder app you can buy a bitcoin in three minutes. You sign up, enter your details, deposit your money, that’s it,” he said.

Schebesta further predicted that the Bitcoin price will hit $250,000 by 2021. “The current dip is just a short term thing. The price of Bitcoin has moved because China said something, or Elon said something, or another government said something,” the executive stated.

Crypto markets crashed last week following Musk’s announcement that Tesla was suspending BTC payments for car purchases. The market tumbled even more when the CEO hinted at dumping BTC from Tesla's balance sheet in the second quarter of 2021.