Considering Bitcoin as a social movement: Involvement, knowledge, and investment as motivations

Abstract

There is a general perception among members of the Bitcoin community that they are a part of a solution to some of the world's macro economic problems. This thesis seeks to better understand the social movement aspects of this situation by analyzing empirical data on Bitcoin users and their motivations for engaging in this activity. Specifically, this research focused on how long a Bitcoin user had been involved, how knowledgeable they were about Bitcoin, how motivated they were by monetary value, and their level of using popular framing techniques within the community. A link to an online survey was posted on some of the major online communities dealing with this topic (r/bitcoin, r/bitcoin markets, and r/cryptocurrency on the website Reddit; and Bitcointalk.org) in February and March 2019 with a total of 333 respondents. Results indicate social movement characteristics and framing can be found throughout this community. Knowledge about Bitcoin and how long a respondent has been actively involved with Bitcoin were among the most significant predictors of whether or not a respondent would continue to use Bitcoin if the United States banned it and how much a respondent valued other social movement characteristics. There is also a major driving force towards the social movement aspects of Bitcoin from how much users are motivated by the monetary value of Bitcoin, serving as a catalyst for this movement at every level, in what could be seen as a paradoxical twist on a bait-and-switch, or maybe more appropriately a reverse-bait-and-switch; fueling greater security and adoption.