Profiling Turkish cryptocurrency owners

With ownership estimates of up to 25%, Turkey is at the forefront of cryptocurrency adoption rendering it an interesting example to study the proclaimed use cases of cryptocurrencies. Using exploratory factor analysis based on a sample of 745 Turkish cryptocurrency owners, we identify three different owner groups and their underlying motives. The first group (users) is looking at cryptocurrency as an option for payments, thereby disregarding its speculative element, while the second group (investors) can be described as experienced investors holding cryptocurrency as part of their investment strategy. The third group (traders) consists of risk-tolerant traders. Further analyses show that groups not only differentiate by demographics, income and education but also by factors such as ideology, purchase intention and the use of domestic or foreign exchanges. The results contribute to the understanding of Turkish cryptocurrency owners, their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and can be incorporated into the pending regulatory processes in the country. Furthermore, the findings suggest that cryptocurrencies have outgrown the use case of mere speculation, provoking future research on cryptocurrency usage with regards to the theories of innovation diffusion, lead users and lead markets