According to a mid-year 2018 survey published by SharesPost Research, the general outlook within the crypto community appears to be positive. Researchers recently published survey results from 2,490 consumers and 528 individual accredited and institutional investors representing a wide range of private and public market investment styles.
Despite crypto valuations losing well over half of their value this year, 59% of investors and 72% of consumers said they planned to increase their holdings over the next 12 months.
Highlights from the report
- 57% of investors expect growth in crypto valuations in the next 12 months
- 66% of consumers expect growth in crypto valuations in the next 12 months
- Investors’ interest in Bitcoin jumped to 78%, up from 48% in the Q1 survey
- Bitcoin was the most-owned coin, followed by Ethereum, XRP and Litecoin
- XRP remains investors’ preferred choice over Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash
There are, however, concerns about cryptocurrencies.
- Over 50% say volatility is their number one concern
- Over 37% say safety and security are their top concern
- 55% of investors say a lack of understanding is their main challenge
- 57% of consumers say a lack of understanding is their main challenge
Although the researchers point out that the report does not contain a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any issuer, industry or security, the survey participants, who responded to online questions in July, singled out their number one picks in terms of overall longevity.
When asked, “Which currencies do you think have the potential to be successful in the long-term?” investors and consumers responded differently. The majority of investors chose Ethereum while the majority of consumers chose Bitcoin.
71% of investors believe Ethereum will be the most successful cryptocurrency
78% of consumers believe Bitcoin will be the most successful cryptocurrency
The outlook for mass adoption has cooled a bit since the Q1 survey. Only 27% of investors believe that crypto will go mainstream in 2020, down from 51% earlier in the year.
While more people now believe that 2025 is a more realistic date for mass cryptocurrency adoption, 32% of investors and 49% of consumers believe that employers plan on using blockchain technology within the next few years.
SharesPost is an SEC-registered broker-dealer, investment advisor and alternative trading system. It maintains a large platform for data, analysis and transactions for over 150 technology companies and has processed over $4 billion in closed transactions. Researchers used SurveyMonkey and Amazon Mechanical Turk to conduct the survey online during July 2018. According to the data, a significant percentage of responders live in Asia and North America, and earn less than $100,000 a year.
You can download the full report here
