We asked 687 CEOs on their plans to invest in cryptocurrencies in the next two years. Here’s what they had to say.

Wheatstones

Published in

Coinmonks

6 min readJan 11, 2022

Introduction

The cryptocurrency industry is estimated to be worth more than $2 trillion.

The general public’s interest in investing in cryptocurrencies as a potential investment opportunity and alternative payment option is fast increasing.

Several major corporations, like Tesla, MicroStrategy, PayPal, Block (formerly Square), Mercado Libre, and Nexon, have invested their treasury funds in Bitcoin in the last year.

But how do businesses in general, across a wide range of industries and sectors, see crypto as a future investment?

Wheatstones conducted a census-balanced survey of 687 small, medium, and large enterprises across a wide range of industries in the United States and the United Kingdom to establish their future intentions.

Methodology

We conducted a survey of 400 individual firms in the UK and 287 individual firms in the US to determine how businesses in general regard cryptocurrency as a form of investment. The respondents were all senior decision makers, notably owners/partners, CEOs, and managing directors from a variety of industries, including manufacturing, construction, medical, retail, hospitality, legal, accounting, IT, media/PR, logistics, financial services, real estate, and education.

Companies polled in the United States represented 45 of the 50 states, while companies surveyed in the United Kingdom represented all nine regions of England, as well as Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. The study comprised a diverse variety of business sizes, with annual revenues ranging from $25,000 to more than $1 billion and employee numbers ranging from 2–5 to 1,000 or more per organization.

The survey was undertaken with YouGov, an international market research and data analytics firm, with a panel of 17 million registered members across 50 markets covering the UK, Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Key Findings

In the United Kingdom, 9% of businesses have already began investing in cryptocurrencies and plan to continue doing so, while 7% want to do so during the next 12–24 months. Another 17% said they would consider investing if regulatory clarity could be achieved.

Subject to the legal framework, various industries in the UK, most notably medical and health, media, and real estate, have significantly increased their willingness to invest in cryptocurrencies. See data below:

Almost half of respondents questioned in the United States viewed cryptocurrencies favorably as a form of alternative investment.

18% of businesses have already began investing in cryptocurrencies, while 11% intend to invest within the next 12–24 months. With 17% saying they would consider investing if regulatory clarification could be provided. See below data for the US:

Again, given to a regulatory environment similar to that of the United Kingdom, medical/health, media, education, and social service organisations have greatly boosted their readiness to invest in cryptocurrencies. See the following data:

The data may imply that certain businesses demand greater regulatory clarity. As a result of that increased trust, there could be a larger influx of money. As we can see above, certain business sectors, in US and UK, are interested in investing in cryptocurrencies, but as long as the climate resembles the Wild West, they will likely stay away. This keeps significant sums of money out of cryptocurrency. As rules & regulations today are making cryptocurrency a more lawful environment, we may anticipate those industries to boost their exposure and begin purchasing cryptocurrencies. Prices will undoubtedly rise initially, but they will settle down in the long term.

Barriers to Investing — Lack of Knowledge & Volatility

When asked why they won’t invest in cryptocurrencies, the most popular response in the UK was “lack of knowledge,” which was stated by 53% of respondents, followed by “too volatile” by 41%. See below:

In the US, the most common response was “too volatile,” with 42% of respondents, and “lack of knowledge” was the second most popular response with 39%. See below:

It’s also worth noting that just 19% of US businesses and 18% of UK businesses thought cryptocurrency was “not a good investment,” with the vast majority considering it as a potential investment or citing other concerns like regulation, volatility, and knowledge.

Which Cryptocurrencies?

When asked which cryptocurrency they would invest in, the top three in the UK and US were Bitcoin (82% in the UK and 81% in the US), Ethereum (59% in the UK and 52% in the US), and Cardano (22% in the UK and 24% in the US). Please see the following:

UK data:

US data:

Summary

Corporate adoption of cryptocurrencies is a significant development, prompting the emergence of a legal framework that has made the market more hospitable to businesses. Corporations that have embraced cryptocurrency have formed a coalition to influence lawmakers on future regulations. A new Crypto Council for Innovation includes Fidelity, Square, and Coinbase Global. Over the next several years, we will most certainly see a significant convergence between the cryptocurrency financial system and the traditional financial system.

The concept of distributed payment technology is already widely accepted, and it will almost certainly survive in some form in the coming decade. It’s safe to say that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are here to stay.

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by Wheatstones, and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making (or refraining from making) any investment decisions.

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