Antecedents of the Adoption of Cryptocurrency Investment in an Emerging Market: The Role of Behavioural Bias

Abstract

Cryptocurrencies have become a popular discussion in the global economy as an increasing number of people adopt these despites their recent conception. As a result, governments worldwide are racing to incorporate assets into their legal frameworks. While Sri Lanka does not have a legal framework for such assets, there is a growing base for cryptocurrency investors in the country. This study analyzes the antecedents that drive Sri Lankan investors towards cryptocurrency investments and the influence of commonly known behavioral biases among these investors to examine the validity of behavioral finance theories in cryptocurrency markets. A structured questionnaire was distributed on social media platforms, which yielded 158 responses. Descriptive analysis was used to evaluate the demographic characteristics of the respondents, and PLS-SEM was used to examine the path model analysis of associations among the study variables. The findings suggest that the majority of respondents are males under 35 years of age with high educational qualifications, and that technical, economic, social, and personal factors are their main adoption motivators. The analysis of behavioral biases suggests that heuristic-driven and frame-dependent biases influence cryptocurrency adoption decisions. As a highly discussed topic in today’s world, there is a lack of studies focusing on the adoption motivators and behavioral biases of cryptocurrency investors. These findings provide valuable insights and enrich the existing knowledge in the domain of cryptocurrency, as this study is a pioneering endeavor focusing on behavioral biases in cryptocurrency markets.