Crypto gains trust as investment, but still lags behind other options: Bitstamp report

Global crypto exchange Bitstamp released its Crypto Pulse survey on Tuesday, concluding that both institutional and retail investors believe crypto will overtake traditional investment vehicles within a decade. Specifically, 80% of the institutional respondents and 54% of the retail investors answered the question in the affirmative.

The survey also polled opinions on whether crypto will see mainstream adoption within the next 10 years. With slightly higher results, 88% of institutional respondents and 75% of retail investors responded affirmatively. This overall bullish attitude came from 28,563 respondents, including 5,450 senior institutional investment strategy decision makers and 23,113 retail investors, from 23 countries.

Crypto powers towards universal adoption. What’s next? In the first edition of our Crypto Pulse report, you’ll find the answers from 28,615 institutional and retail consumer investors! Sign up for the full report here https://t.co/ksGYJhUiSr pic.twitter.com/Ab3hQi0kd6

— Bitstamp (@Bitstamp) April 26, 2022

Julian Sawyer, CEO of Bitstamp, said in a statement that cryptocurrency is now at the forefront of mainstream investing. He added:

"We’ve seen interest propel in the years since the pandemic, and crypto is now part of the wider conversation in global macro-economic matters. Our survey shows something we have advocated over a long time: talking about survival of digital assets is firmly over — the question is now about evolution.”

When it came to trusting in crypto as an asset class, 71% of investment professionals and 65% of everyday investors stated that in crypto they trust. When compared to trust in property ownership, shares and stocks, however, crypto is trusted less. For retail respondents, 67% believe crypto is a trustworthy investment, while 11% said that crypto was untrustworthy. And as for decentralized finance, or DeFi, investment vehicles like stablecoins and NFTs, levels of trust went above 60% across retail and institutional investors.

Bitstamp suggested that any hesitation may stem from the lack of regulation around crypto. It added that trust in crypto at a global level is primarily driven by developing countries and unstable economies, where trust in the traditional financial system is low. In the United States, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that addresses a regulatory framework for digital assets in March. 

Recently, Bitstamp increased its compliance efforts by requesting its users to provide more data info like nationality, place of birth, tax residency and the source of wealth.