Abu Dhabi - Saba:
A survey conducted by management consulting firm Strategy& among 2,500 investors in the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey showed that investment in cryptocurrencies is on the rise.
According to the survey, the steady rise in the prices of Bitcoin and other digital currencies is fueling the boom among individual investors in cryptocurrencies, with a large majority of them planning to invest more money in these currencies this year.
Strategy& is a consulting firm affiliated with the international auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In each of the aforementioned countries, 500 people with cryptocurrencies in their personal wallets were surveyed in January and February.
In the average of the five countries, more than 87% of those surveyed plan to make more cryptocurrency purchases in the next twelve months.
In comparison, German investors appear more cautious, with 75% saying they plan to invest more money in cryptocurrencies. According to the survey, nearly half of German respondents have invested between €1,000 and €10,000 in Bitcoin and similar assets, while a fifth have invested less than €1,000.
The price of Bitcoin has risen about twenty-fold over the past five years: from less than €5,000 after the recession in the first phase of the Corona pandemic in the spring of 2020 to more than €92,000 or $97,000 today. Last fall, the price temporarily fell before crossing the $100,000 threshold in December.
Management consulting experts noted that the market remains very volatile, and most investors surveyed by Strategy& believe that the price of Bitcoin will continue to rise sharply.
German respondents hope that the price of Bitcoin will reach $136,000 by the end of the year.
Economists and financial sector managers are still debating whether the cryptocurrency boom is not just a speculative bubble: unlike stocks, cryptocurrency investments do not have any equivalent value in the form of a company that sells products or services, and unlike the euro or any local currency, there is no central bank of the country behind virtual money.
Cryptocurrencies are digital money, and rely on a decentralized global computer network, and do not require the presence of a central institution such as a bank.