Taking a temp check… when the situation's already heated. A new survey suggests that Americans are increasingly skeptical of crypto. Only 8% of respondents had a positive view (down from 19% in March), while 43% had a negative view (up from 25%). The timing of the survey, conducted late last month, may have something to do with those #s. Earlier in November FTX collapsed spectacularly, and the ensuing contagion likely made some investors crypto-phobic. But the cold symptoms started earlier:
- Market slap: A late-spring selloff, ignited by the collapse of the terraUSD algo stablecoin, ended with crypto's market cap down $2T from its high last year.
- Blockpain: A study published last month estimated that, between 2015 and 2022, 80% of retail investors lost money on bitcoin. (FYI: the study used crypto app downloads, most of which happened when BTC was over $20K.)
When the going gets tough… big money goes shopping. While some institutional investors (like Canada’s biggest pension fund) are said to be stepping back from crypto, others are whipping out their checkbooks. This week Goldman Sachs said it plans to spend tens of millions investing in, or outright buying, crypto companies. And at least one crypto exchange, Bitstamp, said it saw a 57% increase in November in institutional registrations over the previous month.
It's easy to be "crypto curious" when times are good… Last year, more than 60% of US adults said they were planning on buying crypto or wanted to learn more. Crypto's no longer at its high, and the economy’s not doing so hot either. The performance of public crypto-first cos like Coinbase — which recently said it expected annual revenue to be down 50% from last year — could provide insight into whether America’s dim view of crypto is sticking.