Crypto to overtake traditional investments in 10 years: Study

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  • A survey by Bitstamp exchange found that over 80 percent of respondents expect cryptocurrencies to overtake traditional investments like stock in the next 10 years.
  • It also found that trust is high in crypto, that two in three institutional investors actively recommend it to clients and that lack of knowledge is the biggest barrier for retail investors.

Do you believe that cryptocurrencies will eclipse traditional investments like stocks and treasury bonds over the next ten years? Well, you’re not alone. A recent survey by Bitstamp found that over 80 percent of investors share this view. It also found close to 70 percent of institutional investors actively recommend crypto to their clients and that France and Germany believe that Bitcoin will overtake the Euro as the default currency in the European Union.

In its first-ever Crypto Pulse study, Bitstamp surveyed 23,113 retail investors across the world and 5,502 institutional investors. 90 percent of the retail investors earned up to $125,000 a year, with the average age being 37 and a quarter revealing they have a mortgage. Of the professionals, just over half were C-suite executives while 20 percent were advisors and portfolio managers.

One of the surprise findings was that there’s very high trust in crypto, contrary to mainstream headlines which paint crypto as an asset class that people invest in just as a punt. 66 percent of retailers and 70 percent of professionals have high trust in the asset class.

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Some of the respondents shared their views on what it would take to increase this trust. One Mexican investor opined that “strong security is needed to gain customer trust, plus further explanation about cryptocurrencies”, while another South African claimed that “the future of crypto is really bright because they just need to teach people more about it so they trust it more.”

Crypto to eclipse stocks and bonds and is the sector regulated?

Further findings include that most respondents have been investing in crypto for the past two years (62%) and that crypto swaps were the most common types of transactions for retailers (49.5%). Not knowing enough, risk being too high, and being unsure of what the best platform to get started is were the biggest barriers to entry for retailers.

Professionals had different concerns, with the risk of investment and the volatility of crypto prices ranking highest. The lack of regulation was also a big concern for them, especially being that most have to report to regulatory agencies on the assets they hold.

Speaking of regulation, retail investors were divided on whether crypto is a regulated industry or not. 47.7 percent of respondents believe crypto is regulated, just marginally higher than those who believe NFTs are regulated. This was much lower than those who believe stocks and derivatives are regulated (71.2% and 61.9% respectively). 55 percent of the pros believe crypto is regulated.

Bitstamp noted:

Each respondent’s perceptions of regulation vary significantly and align more with knowledge and use of cryptocurrency than the actual understanding of industry regulations.

Professionals are very bullish on the potential of crypto over the next decade, with the survey finding that “80% of institutional investors believe crypto will overtake traditional investment vehicles” and that “over 3 in 4 respondents see mainstream adoption within a decade.”

Related: FTX founder says institutional adoption for crypto will continue in 2022 amid fiat inflation fears