Gallup Poll: 75% of US Investors Think Bitcoin Is 'Very Risky'

Coin Desk ^ | 07/30/18 | Madeline Meng Shi

[Enlightened1]

Three-quarters of U.S. investors with more than $10,000 in stocks, bonds and mutual funds think bitcoin is a "very risky" investment, a new survey revealed Monday.

A poll conducted by Gallup and Wells Fargo asked U.S.-based investors about their views on bitcoin, finding that just 2 percent currently own any and more than 70 percent "have no interest in ever buying bitcoin." A further 26 percent are "intrigued" but do not plan to purchase any in the near future, the poll found.

The poll surveyed nearly 2,000 adults in the U.S. who have invested either in a retirement savings account or through another type of account, according to Gallup. It was conducted over the course of a week in early May.

The survey found that bitcoin's perceived riskiness is the primary reason few investors are holding the cryptocurrency. While 75 percent considered bitcoin to be "very risky," less than 0.5 percent (or less than 10 people surveyed) thought bitcoin was "not risky at all." Only 2 percent thought bitcoin was "not too risky," with the remaining 23 percent thinking of bitcoin as being at least "somewhat risky."

Another reason for the lack of interest might come from bitcoin's limited popularity as only 29 percent of investors surveyed in the poll say they knew anything about cryptocurrencies.

In addition, the statistics show that the perception of bitcoin varies among investors in different age and gender.

"Men and younger investors are far more likely than women and seniors to say they know something about bitcoin or other digital currencies," the pollsters wrote.

Just 3 percent of men and 1 percent of women said they owned bitcoin, with 3 percent of those aged 18 to 49 and 1 percent aged 50 or older.

[Enlightened1]

"just 2 percent currently own any and more than 70 percent "have no interest in ever buying bitcoin." A further 26 percent are "intrigued" but do not plan to purchase any in the near future, the poll found."

Very interesting....

SWIFT handles $5 trillion in payments every single day. Or $1.25 quadrillion each year. If @Ripple captures 1% of that market, it handles $50 billion a day. That's a 200x increase from todays' 24hr $XRP volume. ...And that's just 1 usecase. Let that sink in.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

BitCoin is not an “investment.”

It’s a cash or credit card substitute.

[taxcontrol]

I am aware of a few major banks that are looking to replace the SWIFT system with a crypto currency.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I know very little about Bitcoin.

But, doesn’t it have value, based on supply and demand, just as foreign currencies do? Is there trading in Bitcoin on currency exchanges? I just wonder where its value came from, if not from supply and demand.

[Chode]

THANK YOU!!!

[Arm_Bears]

I’ve devoted a couple of hours to investigating Bitcoin, and I still don’t get it.

Example - How does one “mine” something that is essentially non-existent?

[Beowulf9]

I only know one thing about Bitcoin.

You have to be crazy to invest in it.

https://breakingnews3.com/tag/how-many-times-has-bitcoin-died

[BookaT]

This is a 22 minute snoozer video that will explain everything you want to know. I recommend watching it in small bites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx9zgZCMqXE&feature=youtu.be

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The technology underlying cryptocurrencies is blockchain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain

Blockchain is essentially a digital accounting system that is spread over multiple servers that is for all practical purposes impossible to forge.

Cryptocurrencies are a novelty application of blockchain, but it is a technology that will revolutionize many industries. It could make government accounting completely transparent and auditable by anyone. In other words, it could enable every citizen to see where every penny goes that their government spends.

[rb22982]

Yup

[sergeantdave]

And in 1980, Apple stock was considered “risky.” If you had invested $1,000 in Apple, your portfolio would be valued at $500,000 today.

[Seaplaner]

I choose to have absolutely nothing to do with bitcoin. I neither want nor trust it. At all.

And, by extension, if any financial institution had anything to do with bitcoin, I would avoid them like ebola, zika, and Hillary combined.

[Big Giant Head]

We bought some stuff from overseas that wouldn’t take our bank card. So we bought $200 worth of bitcoin. We had about $67 left over, and left it.

Two years later it spiked up to over $1,800 for what we had. It’s dropped since then, last time I looked it was around $700.

[elbook]

and what percetage think that bitcoins are ‘quite risky’ and ‘more than a little risky’

any idiot can look at a chart to see its ‘price’ going up and down like a yo-yo - a speculators dream scam

[taxcontrol]

Bitcoin is a currency. The yo-yo effect you are referring to is in relation to another currency - US Dollars. It can equally be said that the US Dollar is yo-yo ing compared to Bitcoin.

My point is that ANY currency carries risk because it is not backed by a product. The FOREX exchange has long been viewed as a very risky exchange relative to stock markets.