Despite recent volatility, there is rising conviction that cryptocurrency is on track not just to continue to enter the mainstream with increased momentum–but some predict it will surpass traditional investing within a decade.
A new survey by crypto exchange service Bitstamp of 28,000 investors worldwide finds that the majority see crypto going fully mainstream in the next 10 years.
Some 88% of institutional and 75% of retail investors surveyed believe that crypto will undergo mainstream adoption in a decade. A further 80% of institutional investors agreed that cryptos will overtake traditional investment vehicles.
Since the pandemic started, cryptocurrency has been the fourth most-traded asset, following real estate, stocks, mutual funds and bonds. Indeed, a survey by deVere shows that nearly 90% of millennials and younger Generation Z-ers really do prefer bitcoin to gold as a safe-haven asset.
“The survey results show that crypto is a long game and we need to be building for the next 50 to 100 million customers… the industry needs to enable the infrastructure that supports that next wave of investors,” Bitstamp’s CEO Bobby Zagotta said.
Last November, cryptocurrencies hit a record $3 trillion in value worldwide, up from $14 billion just five years previously. According to CoinMarketCap, the crypto market is currently valued at $1.8 trillion, with value decreasing due to uncertainty over the regulatory environment and inflation, which have caused some prominent investors to shy away.
According to Bitstamp’s survey, the regulatory environment still remains a barrier to crypto investing. Nearly half of retail investors and more than a third of institutional investors consider crypto to be unregulated.
According to blockchain data company Chainalysis, crypto investors earned a whopping $163 billion in 2021 for a nearly 400% increase over the previous year. The US was the leader in those gains, where investors gained some $47 billion.
According to figures quoted by the White House, 16 percent of adult Americans, some 40 million, have now invested in, traded, or used cryptocurrencies
Given the increased popularity, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order in March launching a federal strategy for digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Besides the uncertainty around regulating the crypto, where many governments are still debating frameworks, there is also a huge amount of security concern.
In 2020, the losses from cryptocurrency theft, hacks, and fraud fell 57% to $1.9 billion compared to 2019. However, last year, scammers around the world took home a record $14 billion in cryptocurrency., representing a 79% increase from the previous year
Last year, scamming was the greatest form of cryptocurrency-based crime, followed by theft. This doesn’t necessarily mean that crypto security is getting weaker.
It should be noted that in 2021 crypto usage reached record numbers where the total transaction volume grew to $15.8 trillion in 2021, up a staggering 567% from 2020.
For this year, cryptocurrency crime also might break a record. Just last month, hackers stole more than $370 million in crypto. In the first three months, some $1.6 billion in crypto was stolen from users.
