Design research
Below is a collection of published user research findings around bitcoin, from academic papers to surveys and blog posts.
Journal articles
Bits Under the Mattress: Understanding Different Risk Perceptions and Security Behaviours of Crypto-Asset Users
2021 by Abramova, Voskobojnikov, Beznosov, and Böhme.
A survey of security behaviours among three bitcoin user archetypes, showing that cypherpunks tend to use self-managed security solutions, whereas hodlers and rookies use either custodial solutions or non-custodial wallets.
Investigating the Adoption Factors of Cryptocurrencies—A Case of Bitcoin: Empirical Evidence From China
2021 by Nadeem, Liu, Beznosov, and Pitafi.
A survey of 385 Chinese residents that aims to investigate the adoption factors influencing bitcoin. Results reveal that perceived ease of use and the perceived usefulness have a positive relationship with the intention to use bitcoin.
Non-adoption of crypto-assets: Exploring the role of trust, self-efficacy, and risk
2021 by Voskobojnikov, Abramova, Beznosov, and Böhme.
A survey of 200 users and 204 non-users of crypto-assets about the roles of trust, self-efficacy, and risk on adoption intention. Results found that trust is a critical factor affecting adoption intention.
The U in Crypto Stands for Usable: An Empirical Study of User Experience with Mobile Cryptocurrency Wallets
2021 by Voskobojnikov, Wiese, M. Koushki, Roth, and Beznosov.
An analysis of app reviews of the top five mobile cryptocurrency wallets suggesting that both new and experienced users struggle with general and domain-specific UX issues that might lead to dangerous errors and irreversible monetary losses.
User Perception of Bitcoin Usability and Security across Novice Users
2019 by Alshamsi and Andras.
A survey of 22 undergraduate students at Keele University concluding that bitcoin was still in its infancy at the time of writing and required user education and a new way of thinking. The study recommends user-centered design to develop users’ mental models and deepen their understanding of digital payment technology.
A First Look at the Usability of Bitcoin Key Management
2018 by Eskandari, Barrera, Stobert, and Clark.
A broad usability evaluation of key management techniques used by six representative bitcoin clients. Findings show that bitcoin shares many fundamental challenges known from other domains, and also presents a unique opportunity to rethink key management for end users.
An Evaluation of User Attitudes Towards Anonymity in Bitcoin
2017 by Pajunen.
A survey of 50 users on the r/Bitcoin subreddit that showed bitcoin users value their anonymity, which suggests that anonymity is an integral part of bitcoin, at least from an end user perspective.
The Other Side of the Coin: User Experiences with Bitcoin Security and Privacy
2017 by Krombholz, Judmayer, Gusenbauer, and Weippl.
A survey and follow-up interview of 990 bitcoin users to determine bitcoin management strategies and identify how they deploy security measures to protect their keys and bitcoins. It was found that many do not use all security capabilities of their selected applications and have significant misconceptions on how to remain anonymous and protect their privacy.
Independent research
2024 American Bitcoin Survey report
2024 by The Nakamoto Project
A survey of 3,538 adults in the US about their “moral foundations” and sentiment towards bitcoin.
Pix in Brazil: A Field Study for the Bitcoin Community
2024 by Paulo Sacramento
A field study of the Brazilian payment system Pix, with a focus on learnings for the bitcoin community.
Rethinking Transaction Lists
2022 by Alby.
A survey on transaction list usage, common use cases, and suggested solutions.
New Mnemonics
2022 by Thorbjoern Koenig.
An exploration of new approaches to securing mnemonics (recovery phrases) based on the unique capabilities of our bains and different personality types.
The State of Lightning Volume 2
Login required to access. 2022 by Arcane research.
In this second edition, Arcane Research delivers valuable insights into the growth of bitcoin’s lightning network. The report helps quantify and visualize what’s happening right now with lightning. Not only that, it also shows how it is solving real problems for people around the world.
The Lightning Network: Bitcoin’s Evolution to Medium of Exchange
2022 by Kraken Intelligence.
This report provides an overview of the lightning protocol and its technical design. It also reveals its historical background and gives some interesting insights into the state of the network.
Bitcoin: Knowledge and Perceptions
2022 by Block, Inc.
In early 2022, Block, Inc. partnered with Wakefield Research to survey 9,500 people in 14 countries across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. The pool of respondents spread not only across geographies, but also a wide range of ages and gender. The resulting report is a valuable resource to better understand people’s knowledge and perceptions of bitcoin.
Are Cryptocurrencies Currencies? Bitcoin as Legal Tender in El Salvador
2022 by Alvarez and Argente.
A representative national survey was conducted to obtain information on bitcoin’s usage and effects. The authors rely on survey data gathered from face-to-face interviews with 1,800 Salvadorean households. This papers goal is to study the potential of a cryptocurrency to become a medium of exchange.
Real Talk: Women x Crypto 2.0 survey
2022 by BlockFi.
Female Americans were asked about their current motivations, behaviors and dispositions around crypto investing, financial wellness, and career aspirations. 24% reported owning crypto, with 71% of those owning bitcoin. 70% have only bought and never sold.
The State of Lightning
2021 by Arcane research.
The State of lightning provides a comprehensive overview of usage on the lightning network seen to date (October 2021). The report highlights and explains the growth in network metrics, provides estimates of mainstream adoption, and looks into the future of the lightning network.
Bitcoin UX Research
2021 by Estevão.
The goal of the research was to provide an in-depth qualitative knowledge of how people use or perceive bitcoin.
A Deep Dive Into Lightning as a Bitcoin Scaling Solution
2021 by Kaloudis, CoinDesk research
The research looks at the lightning network from a perspective of the scaling solution and pinpoints the basic architecture that powers it and outlines the potential attact vectors.
Automatic Cloud Backup (Seedless) Wallet Research
2021 by Valentine.
Research on users new to crypto around whether they are confident in their ability to safely hold and keep track of seed phrases. This research aimed to discover whether automatic cloud backups could empower users to confidently secure their own bitcoin wallets.
A study on how Bitcoin is perceived by no-coiners (non-holders of Bitcoin)
2021 by Morucci.
A currently active survey of 65 on the perception and beliefs of bitcoin users and non-users.
Bitcoin is (Still) a Demographic Mega-trend: Data Update
2020 by Blockchain Capital.
An online survey of over 2,000 US adults by Blockchain Capital to gauge the progression of the general population through the crypto adoption funnel, including awareness, familiarity, perception, conviction, relative preference rates and propensity to purchase crypto.
Cryptoasset consumer research 2021
2021 by Karim, and Tomova.
A survey showing an increase in awareness of cryptocurrencies among adults in the UK, but a decreasing understanding of how cryptocurrencies work.
Project Horizon
2021 by Montasser.
An investigation into how people use (or don’t use) the Bitcoin Core Wallet and what needs are unmet by a variety of users. The project employed both qualitative interviews along with surveys to understand a variety of user needs and approaches to using bitcoin.
Blockchain Usability Report
2019 by Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO).
A survey of over 200 crypto holders regarding their frequency and experiences in transacting crypto, with the goal of unearthing some of the common issues they’ve faced.
3rd Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study
2020 by Blandin, Pieters, Wu, Eisermann, Dek, Taylor and Njoki.
A review of the changes in the industry since the 2nd report in 2018. The study gathers survey data from more than 280 cryptoasset companies in 59 countries, focusing on the following four key industry segments: exchanges, payments, custody, and mining.
Case studies
How Women Across the World View Bitcoin
2022 by Vongphrachanh and Berkoe.
A research initiative to understand how women outside the U.S who never engaged with bitcoin felt about it and how their perceptions differed from men’s. The findings highlight roadblocks faced by would-be adopters.
How Coinbase works
2020 by Ramsey.
A UX case case study by built for mars that covers the experience of buying, storing, trading and selling cryptocurrency’s like bitcoin on Coinbase.
Breaking down Bitcoin: A UX Design Case Study
2019 by Zhao.
Documentation of the user research, redesign and testing process of Coinhako, a cryptocurrency trading and digital wallet app.
Lightning Network UX Research
The study conducted to look into the interactions between users and the lightning payments. It also reviewes three well-known projects at that time and looks through their user-experience.
2019 by Estevão.
Making design better for crypto apps: Abra UX Case study
2018 by Kawabata.
A UX case study exploring the usability and suggesting improvements for making purchases in the Abra app.
Blog posts & write-ups
The Usability of Cryptocurrency
2018 by Scherba.
A blog post by uxmatters that covers the usability issues cryptocurrencies face and how the path to mainstream adoption is hindered by a lack of usability.
Usability of Bitcoin: What Satoshi Forgot
2017 by Braun and Ufaev.
A blog post by icons8 that covers the usability issues bitcoin has. The main issues outlined are high price of error, lack of undo, ugly addresses, poor response time, and lack of trust.