In a year when the value of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin has largely plummeted, a recent survey from Bankrate shows the number of Americans comfortable with investing in crypto has dropped right along with it.
Only 21% of Americans surveyed by Bankrate say they’re either “somewhat comfortable” or “very comfortable” with cryptocurrency, compared to 35% in last year’s survey. And 75% of respondents said they were “not too comfortable” or “not at all comfortable” with investing in crypto—much higher than the 61% who said so in last year’s survey.
Millennials investors, who have been crypto’s most fervent supporters, appear to have lost the most confidence in crypto. The percentage of Millennials that were “very comfortable” or “comfortable” investing in crypto sank from 49% in 2021 to 29% this year.
Generation X’s comfort level with investing in crypto fell to 21% in this latest survey, down from 37% in 2021. Baby Boomers’ comfort level slid to just 11% in 2022 from 21% percent last year. Gen Z investors were not surveyed in 2021, but their comfort level was the highest among the generations in 2022 at 34%.
“It is a lot easier to be enthusiastic and believe in something when you see the value going up continually,” says Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “But the real test of belief comes when the chips are down, and a lot of investors have realized they now feel differently about investing in cryptocurrency.”
Bankrate notes that bitcoin has fallen more than 72% and Ethereum 73% from their all-time highs set in late 2021.
Nevertheless, the push to add investing in crypto within 401ks remains, with Fidelity still on track to allow willing 401k participants in the roughly 23,000 plans it recordkeeps to add bitcoin to their accounts before the end of the year. This despite lawmakers and regulators repeatedly voicing concerns over the plan.
And Republican lawmakers last week released the draft of a bill that would enable retirement plan sponsors to offer bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 401k plans, along with other alternative asset classes, although the bill faces long odds on Capitol Hill.
Real estate still a long-term favorite
While Bankrate’s survey revealed American interest in crypto investing is waning, it also found that real estate remains a preferred long-term investment.
As it did last year and for three of the past four years, real estate sits atop the list of Americans’ favorite ways to invest money not needed for 10 or more years. More than 29% favored real estate as their preferred long-term investment, the second-highest showing ever in the 10 years of the Bankrate survey. That bested the stock market (26%), cash investments (savings, CDs) (17%), gold or other precious metals (9%), bonds (9%), and finally bitcoin/cryptocurrency at 6%—down from 9% in last year’s survey. Three percent answered “none of these.”
This study was conducted for Bankrate by SSR on its Opinion Panel Omnibus platform using both the telephone and the web. Interviews were conducted from June 17-20, 2022, among a sample of 1,025 adults.
Crypto interest at all-time low?
The apparent waning American interest in crypto was also evident in new research from AtoZMarkets.com, which analyzed Google Trends data and found interest in crypto over the past 12 months has reached an all-time low.
The analysis shows that interest is over 80 times lower than the peak interest in early November 2021.
That study also found that California is the state that has the highest interest in crypto, followed by Nevada and New York. As for the states with the least interest in crypto? Mississippi ranks decidedly lowest with a score of 302, showing over 100% less interest when compared to California. West Virginia and Kentucky ranked second and third among the least crypto-obsessed states.
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• Fidelity’s ‘Bitcoin-in-401ks’ Plan Moving Forward Despite Questions from Senators