The number of Australians owning cryptocurrencies has grown three times over since January, despite the market plunge from December 2017’s all-time high. Australian investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts seem to see the bigger picture beyond last December’s crypto-mania.
Crypto Riding High Down Under
The Finder-backed cryptocurrency brokerage firm HiveEx surveyed some 2000 people and found the interesting statistics. According to the survey, 13:5 percent of the population owned crypto assets in August as opposed to 5 Percent in January. The survey also found out that despite the flurry of negative news flooding the crypto scene, investors and consumers were still optimistic and considering investing in crypto within the next one year.
A series of bad news has negatively affected the cryptocurrency industry. The latest is the recent rumors (Which Goldman Sachs has refuted) that Goldman Sachs Investment bank had ditched its plans regarding cryptocurrency trading because of an unclear regulatory environment. The result was Bitcoin shedding its Wednesday, September 5, 2018, $6517.98 by over 5 percent.
Despite cryptocurrency prices seesawing over the past few months, many investors and consumers have said they plan to increase their crypto holdings for the next 12 months. Most of the respondents said they expected crypto valuations to increase during the coming 12 months even though investors are less bullish.
Cryptocurrency prices have seesawed over the past several months. 59 percent of investors and 72 percent of consumers plan to increase their holdings over the next 12 months. Majority of respondents expect crypto valuations to increase over the next 12 months though investors were less bullish than in our previous survey. 57 percent of investors and 66 percent of consumers expect growth in crypto valuations over the next year.
Regulations Incoming?
Last month, Finder Co-founder and Australia’s tech success story and “self-made millionaire revealed plans to launch Australia’s first-ever “Crypto Bank of Australia.” Fred Schebesta, who became millionaire at 26 after selling his website www.finder.com.au, said there was more interest in cryptocurrency in Australia than during the 2017 crypto-mania.
Mr. Schebesta, who hosts a daily cryptocurrency talk show from Finder’s offices in Sydney’s CBD, has found a new obsession with blockchain and cryptocurrency and like other Australians, seems to be undeterred by the drop in interest since December 2017’s peak. He said:
“Comparison wasn’t very big because Australians weren’t really comparing, but I thought that was going to change, so I put a big investment and a big bet on comparison. I think with crypto, [people will want to] own their own currency and be able to hedge against fiat currency.”
