By George Ward
According to a January survey by Paxos, most American cryptocurrency holders still trust banks, exchanges, and digital payment apps to hold their assets. This suggests that US crypto consumers haven’t lost faith in “intermediaries” to store their coins.
Increasing Optimism
A yearly online survey conducted in January and its report published on Tuesday by the stablecoin issuer aimed to find out how the crypto winter and large industry meltdown in 2022, such as the bankruptcy of FTX and Alameda Research, affected the behavior of customers and trust in the crypto ecosystem. 2022 was a turbulent year for the cryptocurrency market, Paxos noted.
Paxos continued saying last year was a trust-testing year for the ecosystem. Some of those events include highly volatile Bitcoin price swings and the biggest industry fallouts from businesses like FTX, Terra, Alameda Research, and more.
Yet, the study discovered that among those who were aware of and kept up with the FTX tale, more than half (58%) of participants either intended to buy additional cryptocurrency or took no action in response to the news. However, the study discovered that 89% of respondents continued to trust “intermediaries” like cryptocurrency exchanges, banks, and mobile payment apps to store their cryptocurrency.
Consumers want to be able to purchase Bitcoin, Ether, and other digital assets from their homes or traditional banks, according to the survey. 75% of respondents said they would be probable or very likely to do so from their “primary bank” if the option was made available, a 12-point margin increase from the previous year.
An Inspiration To Invest More
In addition, 45% of respondents said they would be inspired to invest more in cryptocurrency if financial institutions such as banks adopted it more widely. If banks expanded their products to include digital assets, they would access a “huge untapped possibility,” according to the report.
According to Paxos, these services would not only meet rising demand but would also boost adoption. Survey participants were US residents over 18 years old, had a household income of at least $50,000, and had bought crypto within the previous three years.
Hence, five thousand people participated in the survey. Consumers maintained faith in their cryptocurrency investments despite the unstable crypto landscape of 2022.
According to Paxos, this figure remained constant compared to the 2022 report, demonstrating that participants in the cryptocurrency markets are long-term optimists. It is worth mentioning that due to the date of the study, more recent crypto setbacks were not taken into account in the report.
Such setbacks include the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency lender Genesis, the Paxos-related Binance USD crackdown, and the financial insecurity of the cryptocurrency bank (Silvergate Capital).