Coronavirus Pushed More American Investors to Bitcoin: Grayscale Study

Bitcoin is enjoying a bullish run since the crypto winter of 2018. In 2020, it’s been on a steady increase and its value hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Now, it appears that more people are getting interested in the top cryptocurrency. According to a new report from asset management firm Grayscale Investments, up to half of all investors in the United States now know about the asset.

The Top Asset on all Fronts

The report, published earlier today, is titled the “Bitcoin Investor Study.” In it, Grayscale examined the sentiment of investors towards the asset and how much it had managed to penetrate the American investment community. Grayscale found that 55 percent of all surveyed investors responded that they were interested in buying units of the asset this year.

The report marked a significant increase over last year, with Grayscale pointing to a 10 percent surge in positive responses. 

Along with prospective investors, Grayscale pointed out that many of them also made commitments to the top crypto asset this year, 38 percent of respondents confirmed that they had invested in the asset in the last four months, while 26 percent responded in the same manner over the past six months. Seven percent claimed to have invested between the past seven months to a year. 

All in all, the total number of Bitcoin investors in the United States rose to 32 million – up from 21 million recorded last year. 

A Pandemic-Fueled Boom

As for the reasons for the increased investor haul, 59 percent of them claimed to have been drawn to the asset due to its potential for growth and relatively low-cost entry. However, the most significant driver of the asset’s prominence has been the coronavirus pandemic. 63 percent of respondents claimed that they had invested in the asset to hedge their risk from the market downturn.

The latter reason isn’t much of a surprise. the coronavirus pandemic has been perhaps the most crippling economic problem in the past half-century, with effects on traditional financial markets still prominent today.

Cash has so far become almost unusable for people, while alternative assets have also taken some time to get back on their feet. In contrast, Bitcoin quickly shook off a downturn from the middle of March and has steadily risen since then. 

Individual investors haven’t been the only ones flocking to Bitcoin in their droves. Institutions have done so as well. This year saw perhaps the biggest institutional push for the asset, with large companies opting to use it to hedge their risk. 

MicroStrategy, the world’s largest provider of cloud-based business intelligence solutions, announced in July that it would move to the Bitcoin standard. As of last month, the firm reportedly had about $425 million in Bitcoin.

Data from blockchain tracking firm Coin98 Analytic shows that institutions have so far pledged $6 billion to the asset. If it continues giving such stable performances, that haul could grow significantly in the coming months.