A survey conducted in Australia has uncovered that at least 1 in 3 citizens would ditch their bank for digital currency such as Bitcoin and other innovative financial services technologies.

Australians & the Future of Money

Over the last two years, it has become very clear that Australia is one of the best markets for bitcoin owners. Towns are ready to build their economies around it, and ownership per capita is among the world's highest.

Now, a new poll of over three thousand Australians tells a very interesting story of how smitten the country is with Bitcoin. Conducted by Fair Go Finance of Australia, their "Future of Money" survey was administered online in April to discover the amount of knowledge, acceptance, and interest in Bitcoin.

The first question was somewhat vague:

"Do you know anything about Bitcoins?"

This received a pretty clear response of 34% saying Yes and 66% saying No.

Theoretically, if they know it is a digital currency that would tip the scales, so it doesn't crystallize any level of knowledge or even interest. Of these respondents, 57% of men knew something about Bitcoin while 43% did not. Women were less aware, with only 28% having heard about Bitcoin.

Interestingly, "Generation X" and "Generation Y" were equally knowledgeable with two out of three not knowing about Bitcoin, regardless of age.

Unrelated to the Bitcoin questions, almost half (48%) of those who took the survey are ready to go to biometric scans over the current password security systems of today. Also, almost 70% were not interested in using Facebook to transfer money online, just in case that ever became a viable option. Only 11% liked the idea.

The next question was:

"What do you think is the best feature of digital money or financial technology?"

Here, 70% said the level of convenience offered for 24/7 access was the number one advantage; 15% said it gave them more control over their finances and 12% said it was safer than walking around with cash on hand; only 2% said digital money was too risky of a proposition.

Now for the big question:

"Would you change banks or financial providers for better services with digital money or financial technology?"

This one drew very clear and balanced responses. Here, 36% said they would move from their current bank to use digital currency systems elsewhere; 35% said they would not move; and 29% said they were unsure.

To learn more about digital currency, over half said they went online to do research, which was by far the number one answer. Learning from friends and family came at a distant second with 26%.

It seems Australians are ready to move into a future of digital currency and biometrics to control their finances more than ever before. The free market may decide how soon this becomes a reality, but according to this “Future of Money” survey, Australians have a high amount of interest in using a more convenient form of payment such as Bitcoin in the future.

What do you think of the results, and do you agree with how Australians see digital currency? Share above and comment below.