Cryptocurrency Purchase Intention: between Trends and Global Economic Dynamics

This research explores the influence of key behavioral factors on cryptocurrency purchase intentions in the context of a volatile digital asset ‎market. Specifically, it investigates how herding behavior and perceived ease of use (PEU) directly affect individual investment decisions to ‎purchase cryptocurrencies, and how global interest rate fluctuations moderate these relationships. Data were collected through an online ‎survey of 210 active cryptocurrency traders in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the analysis employed a cross-sectional quantitative design us-‎ing structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings reveal that PEU has a significant positive impact on purchase intention by enhancing ‎investor confidence, encouraging proactive information seeking, and alleviating the anxiety typically associated with digital asset investments. Additionally, the results show that global interest rate fluctuations play a moderating role, amplifying the effect of herding behavior ‎on purchase intention. Specifically, higher interest rate volatility increases the influence of social conformity on investor decision-making. ‎This research contributes to the field of behavioral finance and extends prospect theory by demonstrating the complex interplay between ‎technology-related perceptions and macroeconomic risk signals in shaping investment behavior in the cryptocurrency market‎.