Opinion poll
Majority of Investors Unfazed by Crypto Turbulence
The best-known digital currency Bitcoin, for example, reached its all-time high of over $60,000 in autumn 2021; a year ago, the value of a Bitcoin was under $17,000 after the FTX collapse. Since then the price has roughly doubled again. photo
© Kin Cheung/AP/dpa
Digital currencies such as Bitcoin have lost a lot of value since 2021, and the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in autumn 2022 made headlines around the world.
After the fraud scandal surrounding the crypto exchange FTX, according to a new report In the survey, a large majority of private investors are committed to digital currencies. Accordingly, in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and four other countries, on average only 18 percent of private crypto investors have reduced their investments since autumn 2022. The consulting firm Strategy&, which is part of the international auditing firm PwC, published the survey on Wednesday.
Austrians are particularly cautious, with 20 percent saying they have reduced their crypto investment. In Switzerland it was 16 percent and in Germany 15 percent. Strategy& surveyed 3,798 private investors in August, including 1,000 in Germany and 500 in each of the two neighboring Alpine countries. The other respondents lived in Poland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Crypto optimists were in the majority everywhere. On average in all seven countries, significantly more investors – 34 percent – sold part of their crypto portfolio in order to then get back in at a cheaper price. Fourteen percent didn’t sell anything and even invested additional money; the rest kept their shares without buying or selling.
Worldwide price slide after FTX collapse
In the fall of 2022, the US cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed. Before the collapse, the company was one of the largest trading centers for digital currencies such as Bitcoin. The FTX collapse resulted in a global slide in the price of cryptocurrencies, and last week a New York court found founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of billions in fraud.
Even before the scandal, cryptocurrency had lost a lot of value. The best-known digital currency Bitcoin, for example, reached its all-time high of over $60,000 in autumn 2021; a year ago, the value of a Bitcoin was under $17,000 after the FTX collapse. Since then the price has roughly doubled again.
“The crypto hype is not over, despite all the market collapses and upheavals within the scene,” said Philipp Wackerbeck, head of financial services at Strategy&. Many investors planned to expand their crypto portfolios and are betting on holding their positions for the long term. However, the turbulence has not completely disappeared: according to the survey, investors’ willingness to change trading platforms has increased.