Bakkt Holdings Inc., a digital asset platform that unlocks crypto and drives loyalty to create delightful, connected experiences for a broad range of clients, today released findings from its “Bi-Annual U.S. Consumer Crypto Sentiment Study” of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers who own crypto or are interested in crypto, examining their interest in crypto following the summer volatility, their preferred security features and outlook for crypto’s role in the global financial system. An additional short-term assessment of more than 1,000 consumers after the collapse of FTX who own or are interested in crypto was also fielded to understand the impact of the FTX collapse on initial findings. Despite the recent FTX collapse, future purchase consideration of crypto holds steady for both crypto owners and crypto curious, with only a 7% decline in future consideration for crypto owners and a surprising 2% increase for crypto curious. Overall, almost half say their interest in purchasing crypto hasn’t changed.
“Regulation and security come through as top concerns and illustrate why Bakkt’s thoughtful approach to risk aligns with crypto owners’ values and concerns.”
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In the findings prior to the FTX collapse, the topic of regulation was already a top concern following the volatility of the market this past summer. 71% of crypto owners and 70% of crypto curious said they are extremely or somewhat concerned with the safety and regulation around purchasing crypto. Both crypto owners and crypto curious selected “it’s your crypto, not the crypto company’s” as the #1 most important safety and regulation measure. Overall, most respondents, 92% of crypto owners and 78% of crypto curious, predict that crypto will be more regulated in the future. The data also finds that concerns around safety and regulation grow as investment level increases.
“The results of the study confirm that cryptocurrency is increasingly appealing and not significantly impacted by the recent failure of FTX. We do not see signals of a market exit.” said Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael. “Regulation and security come through as top concerns and illustrate why Bakkt’s thoughtful approach to risk aligns with crypto owners’ values and concerns.”
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Awareness of the crypto news cycle is found to impact shifts in sentiment. Following the FTX collapse, only 33% of crypto curious stated they recalled reading or hearing about any recent crypto events. With no crypto investments and low recall of recent events, crypto curious purchase sentiment holds steady across testing waves. Crypto owners naturally have higher recall of recent events, at 52%, contributing to their dip in outlook sentiment. The data also shows that those who recalled recent crypto events have stronger concerns around crypto safety and regulation. At the same time, the study revealed that 84% of respondents agree that crypto is gaining popularity. Additionally, 68% also say that crypto is the next advancement in modern finance. When tested post-FTX collapse, agreeability with these sentiments all dipped by a mere single digit percentage overall.
Key Additional Findings:
- Education Remains the Biggest Barrier: Education continues to remain the biggest barrier to entry with 61% of respondents stating they don’t understand it enough, 41% saying they don’t know how to invest in crypto, and 38% saying they don’t know what to do with it. Security and regulation concerns followed, with 21% saying it’s too new and that they want to wait for more adoption.
- Unfamiliarity with Terminology: Less than 50% of crypto curious can accurately identify the relationship between “crypto” and “bitcoin.” While most participants have heard of bitcoin (#1 coin by market cap), only a small percentage say they have heard of the #2 and #3 largest coins by market cap, Ethereum and Tether respectively. The inability to differentiate between terminology, and lack of awareness of coins besides bitcoin suggest more education needed for adoption.
- Banks and Crypto – A Trustworthy Partnership: 76% of the crypto curious segment rate their primary bank or credit union as “very trustworthy” or “somewhat trustworthy” for purchasing crypto, compared to 46% that believe the same for crypto platforms. Almost 90% of crypto owners view their primary bank as trustworthy for purchasing crypto, noteworthy because they have already purchased it elsewhere. Almost 90% of crypto owners are open to earning crypto instead of traditional points, and over half of crypto curious are open to earning crypto. While most consumers prefer cashback when earning, crypto owners are equally open to earning crypto in addition to points than cashback.
- Loyalty as a Pathway for Crypto Payment Adoption: 51% of crypto owners and 48% of crypto curious agree that crypto acquired through redeeming loyalty points would make them more likely to use crypto for payments, even more so than P2P crypto exchange.
Investing for the Long-Term
Of the total sample of mid-October crypto owner respondents, over 60% primarily use crypto as a long-term asset, with almost 20% using it as P2P crypto exchange or for payments. The study also finds that the perception of crypto as a long-term investment increases with age.
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