By A recent survey of over 1,000 Americans by Clovr, a company focused on fostering the mainstream adoption of blockchain, was undertaken to try and understand people’s thoughts and attitudes about cryptocurrencies and investing therein. The survey was carried out on 1,004 Americans via the Amazon Mechanical Turk Platform.
Understanding Cryptocurrencies
Clovr found that more than 75% of the respondents to the survey indicated that they had a good understanding of what cryptocurrency is. It was noted that almost the entire sample group had at least some exposure to the concept of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and that the majority of respondents would feel comfortable enough to be able to explain cryptocurrencies to a novice.
Reasons for Investing in Cryptocurrencies
By far the largest proportion of respondents, approximately 51.6%, when asked about their reasons for investing into cryptocurrencies cited the “possibility of [a] huge return on investment”. This was closely followed by 42.6% of the respondent stating that they thought cryptocurrencies were the “currency of the future”.
These two reasons can be closely coupled to the “fear of missing out” on the potential returns that could be made, which would probably also explain the predominance of male investors, known to be higher risk-takers than female investors.
Another response in favor of investing in cryptocurrencies was that people were weary of the global economy, and some people just wanted to go with their gut feel for making such an investment.
Investor Profiles
According to Clovr’s survey, those who are invested in cryptocurrencies are predominantly young (41% are Millennials), affluent (43% made 100k+), urban, males (43%). About half such investors were thought to be forward thinking, while one third characterized them as innovative and only approximately one quarter regarded such investors as reckless.
Uncertainty and Other Reasons for Not Investing in Cryptocurrencies
Two-thirds of the respondents to the survey said they were not invested in cryptocurrencies, while three-quarters of the respondents thought that people who had not invested in virtual currencies were playing it safe. The reasons cited by respondents for not investing in cryptocurrencies were that “it’s too risky”, “I don’t know enough about it”, and it “seems to good to be true”.
An interesting response, that gained a 17% vote, was that respondents felt that “government forces will intervene” in cryptocurrencies. According to respondents, this is indeed a grey area of uncertainty for cryptocurrencies. Government intervention, tax implications, and the potential for cryptocurrencies to erode governments’ power bases are issues that may yet impact on cryptocurrencies.
According to Clovr “uncertainty” is the most common emotion associated with not investing in cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin Gaining Mainstream Credibility
Despite Clovr’s survey, there have been a number of other recent surveys that suggest that Bitcoin is gaining mainstream credibility despite turbulent crypto markets in 2018. Foley & Lardner’s survey indicated that the bulk of respondents believe that Bitcoin has the best mainstream adoption potential.
A poll conducted in August 2018 also showed that approximately 50% of the 2,000 respondents surveyed were willing to try Bitcoin. This survey further suggested that Millennials are becoming increasingly involved in the field and that this generation is predisposed to invest in digital currencies.
Do you concur with the latest cryptocurrency survey results? Is investing in cryptocurrencies is too risky? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.
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