Grayscale Study: 36% of Americans Would Consider Buying Bitcoin (BTC)
The drive to invest in digital currency has diminished in 2019, but there are still more than enough crypto-curious.
More than a third of US investors are interested in Bitcoin, shows this year’s investor study commissioned by Grayscale Capital. Based on research by Q8, 36% of Americans would consider a Bitcoin (BTC) investment, and are attracted to digital assets for various reasons. The interest in Bitcoin and investment extends beyond the relatively smaller community of digital asset enthusiasts and may include investors with a more mainstream approach to finance.
This time, however, more than 83% of respondents stated that they would test the waters with a small BTC investment, to be able to adjust later based on performance.
“Bitcoin and other digital currencies may have unique investment characteristics that provide diversification far beyond the basic 60% stock/40% bond portfolio allocation,” the study concludes.
Investing in BTC is happening at a time of still extremely high liquidity, near-peak stock prices, and negative bond yields. The volatility of BTC remains one of the biggest problems, but the potential for unexpected and unusually high gains attracts investors.
Previous research by Grayscale shows that, depending on market conditions, holding BTC in one’s portfolio may serve to offset risk in stocks and bonds. Grayscale warns that the profile for the usual BTC investor is a more experienced, less risk-averse person.
Investment in cryptocurrency is also gender-specific, with a prevalence of male investors, to the tune of 57% of all buyers. Still, 43% of Grayscale investors are women, showing that digital assets are not exclusively appealing to men. Additionally, around 49% of investors are individuals with income under $100,000 per year, revealing that even retail investors are interested in the returns of digital assets.
BTC prices remain highly volatile, and in the past have caused deep losses for retail investors. During the market peak in December 2017, aggressive buying led to deep personal financial losses, as prices crashed by 50% within days after reaching the all-time peak near $20,000.
BTC investors are also favorable to the idea of sound money and investing in gold:
“For instance, 69% of investors interested in Bitcoin see gold as a good investment (versus 55% of all investors), with 65% saying they “definitely” or “probably” would invest in gold (versus 51% of the general pool). It’s clear that investors interested in Bitcoin are more comfortable investing in gold, compared to those not interested in Bitcoin,” the study found.
BTC market prices hovered around $9,500.92, crashing steeply from the $10,000 tier as the coin is still revealing near-record volatility.