By George Ward
The Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI) has published its report of a year-long survey completed last month. The survey polled 1500 Singaporean users on their crypto usage.
According to the survey, 76% of the women polled said they are making money through crypto investment. However, only 72% of men made gains or broke even on their crypto investments.
More Singaporean Women Are Investing In Crypto
“This is the first instance where women are outperforming men in terms of crypto gains since we launched the IRCI in 2021,” the report stated. According to the survey, there has been a rise in the number of women engaging in crypto investments this year.
Of the surveyed women, 37% reported having invested in cryptocurrencies, representing a 7% surge from the previous year. Conversely, the survey revealed that 48% of men participated in crypto investments, indicating a 1% decline compared to last year’s IRCI survey.
Additionally, a large proportion of women surveyed expressed a positive outlook on cryptocurrencies, as 24% reported having crypto as 20% of their portfolio. “In the next one year, 48% of the respondents plan to expand their current investment portfolio, while 43% want to diversify by exploring other tokens, decentralized finance (DeFi), or non-fungible token (NFT) projects.,” the report adds.
Furthermore, the IRCI offers a confidence score on the overall state of cryptocurrency, which ranges from 0 to 100. According to the latest edition, Singapore’s confidence level in cryptocurrency decreased from 61 in 2022 to 55 in 2023.
The main reason for this decline was the challenging year faced by the crypto industry in 2022, where several prominent crypto firms like FTX went bankrupt.
48% Of Respondents To Expand Their Assets Despite Crypto Crisis
Furthermore, the Terra LUNA collapse disrupted the entire crypto sector, affecting other companies. Lasanka Perera, Independent Reserve Singapore CEO, added:
“The cryptocurrency industry faced significant challenges in 2022 due to various macroeconomic factors. The Terra and FTX collapse affected investor’s confidence and trust in the industry.”
Notwithstanding the drop in confidence, there was still an increase in crypto adoption. 43% of those surveyed reported they had invested in cryptocurrency, higher than the 40% the previous year.
Furthermore, a vast proportion of survey participants said there still believe in crypto. 48% of the respondents said they would expand their existing portfolios.
Meanwhile, Perera pointed out that some individuals might reassess their reliance on conventional financial institutions in light of ongoing global economic developments. According to him, individuals might move towards alternative assets like Bitcoin to protect their wealth against inflation and bank failures.
Notably, the CEO expressed satisfaction with Singaporeans’ optimism toward cryptocurrency’s long-term advantages. Perera further proposed that the Singaporean government’s established regulatory frameworks for the cryptocurrency sector played a part in fostering long-term confidence among local crypto investors.