Americans do not have a lot of faith in cryptocurrency. Around 75% of those familiar with crypto say they are not confident that the current ways to invest in, trade or use cryptocurrency are reliable and safe, according to Pew Research Center’s April 2023 survey of 10,071 people ages 18 and older living in the US. The survey found that about 18% say they are somewhat confident, but just 6% feel extremely or very confident. Confidence varies by age as well. The survey found that about 66% of US adults under 50 who are familiar with crypto aren’t confident in its reliability and safety. For those over 50, that number rises to 85%.
According to Pew's survey, American crypto traders feel their investments have not performed as well as they had hoped. About 45% of respondents say their investments have done worse than expected. While 30% say their investments have performed as expected, only 15% say they have performed better than anticipated. One reason for the lack of optimism could be that it is a complicated time for the crypto industry.[1]
The overall cryptocurrency market lost around $1.4 trillion in value in 2022 as various crypto firms filed for bankruptcy and FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges, collapsed. Additionally, crypto investors lost nearly $4 billion to hackers in 2022, according to Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis firm.
See: https://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/us-banks-are-breaking-up-with-crypto
Since the start of the year, Bitcoin has surged by about 80%. As of 13 April 2023, the price continued to hold around $30,000. This stretch is the first time it has reached that level since June 2022, but it remains significantly lower than the more than $68,000 peak Bitcoin reached in November 2021.
Since virtual currencies typically don’t derive value from an underlying asset, they are only worth as much as investors are willing to pay. “Because it has no fundamental backing, crypto is a sentiment-driven trade,” James Royal, principal reporter at Bankrate. “It’s absolutely vital for crypto promoters to keep drawing more people into it however they can.”
This is also why crypto is considered to be a highly volatile asset. Its price can erratically fluctuate or decrease in value. Because of this, financial advisers advise against investing more than you are willing to lose. “Crypto is not an investment,” says Royal. “But rather a trade to make money from the next guy coming in the door.”
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[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/14/pew-crypto-traders-say-investments-performed-worse-than-expected.html
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