A recently conducted survey has found that despite the prolonged bear market that saw most cryptocurrencies lose between 80% and 90% of their value, nearly 40% of respondents would still invest in cryptocurrencies if they had spare funds.

According to 8BTC, the survey was conducted by local news outlet PANews, and it found that 82.8% of the polled individuals would consider buying crypto a “trendy investment,” while 40% claim they would like to invest.

While the report doesn’t detail how the survey was conducted, it claims it asked 4,980 Chinese individuals about cryptocurrencies between November 26 and December 10 of this year, and managed to get 4,200 valid questionnaires.

Most Have Heard Of Crypto

Notably, the local news outlet claims it found that 98.22% of respondents had heard of at least one concept related to cryptocurrencies. About 50% claimed to have heard of cryptocurrency, digital currency, or bitcoin, while 42.3% claimed to have heard about blockchain technology.

The concept of a blockchain-based token wasn’t as popular, as only 22.2% heard about it. Among those who claimed to have heard about blockchain technology, 20% had “some knowledge” about it, but most knew blockchain tech at “a relatively surface level.”

Millennials, the report adds, are more familiar with cryptos. As CryptoGlobe covered other surveys have found millennials are into cryptocurrencies, as consultant Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2018 found more than 25% of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) surveyed “place importance” on getting information about the ecosystem.

The report notably points out that those who responded to the survey were more familiar with cryptocurrency in general than with bitcoin. This, it claims, as cryptocurrencies are, in general, seen as an investment product.

Out of the 14% of respondents who have invested in cryptocurrencies, about 20% only heard about bitcoin, while the remaining 80% heard about top altcoins like Ethereum. Per the survey, Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) appear to play an important role in familiarizing people with cryptocurrencies, as nearly 38% of respondents learned about crypto from online celebrities and the community in general.

About 26%, it adds, found out about crypto from friends and relatives, while mainstream media reports got to 20% of the survey’s respondents.

Investing In Crypto

Out of the who 598 reportedly bought cryptocurrencies, and 60.5% of them were aged 19-28 and invested between $1,450 and $14,500. Most entered the market after last year’s bull run. When asked where they would invest if they had some available funds, 39.6% claimed they would go with crypto.

The most popular answer here were stocks in popular companies and real estate. Interestingly, earlier this year a survey conducted by Get Living, a real estate developer in the United Kingdom, found that 21% of UK millennials would prefer investing in BTC over real estate.

In PANews’ survey, most revealed they would invest in crypto after being influenced by get-rich-quick stories, while nearly 59% said they weren’t investing because of “the complicated procedures when they encounter in wallet use and in crypto exchanges.”

Notably, 63.43% of respondents didn’t see a need to use cryptocurrencies as a payment method, as mobile payment solutions like Alipay and WeChat Pay are “convenient in the country.”