Survey of millionaires finds 73% own or want to invest in crypto

A survey of more than 700 high-net-worth individuals, or HNWs, has found that almost three-quarters of millionaire respondents either already own or are looking to invest in cryptocurrencies before the end of 2022.

Conducted by financial advisory organization deVere Group, the survey revealed that 73% of respondents are bullish toward cryptocurrencies, an increase from 68% in 2019.

Participants were individuals who had more than 1 million British pounds, which equates to approximately $1.32 million. They were selected from a wide variety of regions including the United States, the United Kingdom, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and Latin America.

DeVere Group CEO and founder Nigel Green noted in the survey that Bitcoin had once again been one of the best-performing assets this year, with a year-to-date increase of 125%. He added:

“As the survey shows, this impressive performance is drawing the attention of wealthy investors who increasingly understand that digital currencies are the future of money and they don’t want to be left in the past.”

Green noted the respondents eyeing Bitcoin include some of the biggest Wall Street banks, and attributed their warming sentiment to adoption by large firms such as PayPal and Square:

“No doubt that many of these HNWs who were polled have seen that a major driver of the price surge is the growing interest being expressed by institutional investors who are capitalising on the high returns that the digital asset class is currently offering.”

Even former Bitcoin skeptics on Wall Street are warming to digital currencies. During a recent New York Times conference, JPMorgan Chase’s Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said he’s a “believer” in blockchain technology and “properly backed, properly regulated” cryptocurrencies.

Dimon made headlines in 2017 when he referred to Bitcoin as a fraud, although JPMorgan has since embraced digital assets.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio still has plenty of doubts about Bitcoin, but questioned his own skepticism on Tuesday, tweeting:

“I might be missing something about Bitcoin so I’d love to be corrected.”

Dalio had suggested Bitcoin falls down as a store of value and that governments may “outlaw it and make it too dangerous to use.” He also said that he can’t imagine central banks, multinational companies and big institutional investors using it.

The survey of millionaires was revealed the same day that Bitcoin’s total market cap hit a new all-time-high of $336 billion and its price rallied to above $18,000, just shy of the $19,763 high reached in December 2017.