80% of Institutions Bullish on Crypto’s Future, Survey Finds

Eight out of 10 institutional investors believe that crypto will overtake traditional investment vehicles within a decade, a survey by crypto exchange Bitstamp found.

The company’s Crypto Pulse survey also discovered that 54% of retail investors believe that cryptocurrencies will overtake traditional currencies within 10 years.

“The survey results show that crypto is a long game and we need to be building for the next 50 to 100 million customers,” Bitstamp US CEO Bobby Zagotta told Blockworks. “The industry needs to enable the infrastructure that supports that next wave of investors.”

The survey reflects the opinions of roughly 28,000 respondents — about 5,000 institutional investment strategy decision-makers and 23,000 retail investors — across 23 countries.

It found that crypto is trusted less than property ownership, which is trusted by about 80% of retail investors and institutions. Shares and stocks are deemed trustworthy by about 69% and 77% of retail investors and institutions, respectively.

Still, 67% of retail respondents believe crypto is a trustworthy investment, while 70% of institutional investor respondents said they trust it. Of the latter group, 68% actively recommend crypto in investment strategies.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) investment vehicles, including stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain networks, have trust ratings of roughly 60% across retail and institutional investors.

“As people learn more about crypto, they tend to trust it more,” Zagotta said. “This is extremely positive when you think about crypto’s long-term potential.”

Individuals and institutions in emerging economies are more likely to trust crypto — with nearly 80% reporting they do, compared to 62% in more developed financial markets.

Regulation remains a barrier to crypto investing, according to respondents. Nearly half of retail investors and more than a third of institutional investors consider crypto to be unregulated.

President Biden signed an executive order last month tasking a swathe of government agencies to collaborate on studying responsible regulation of digital assets. 

Zagotta said that certain facets of crypto regulation should be non-negotiable, such as maintaining blockchains’ transparency, prioritizing privacy and remaining independent from third parties.

“Given the executive order and recent legislative activity, the topic is certainly hot in Washington,” he said. “We expect more regulation…in the coming months.”

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