Yahoo Finance Bitcoin retains its pull as 60% of investors plan to buy in 2021
Almost two-thirds of UK investors intend to buy bitcoin in 2021 and well over half expect its value to increase to $60,000 (£43,000), according to a survey.
Financial platform Investing.com found 63% of UK investors intend to buy bitcoin in 2021 for the first time, or increase their holding in the currency.
The survey was conducted in January with 802 respondents, and although 61% expect bitcoin value to hit $60,000, 30% expect the cryptocurrency to rise to an even higher $100,000 (£73,000) this year.
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Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com, said: “After a record-breaking year in 2020 that saw it jump more than 300%, bitcoin looks to stay strong in 2021 as more retail – and big-name institutional buyers – enter the market.
“The recent surge in first-time novice investors – combined with the flush of ultra-cheap money being pumped into the global financial system by the Federal Reserve and other global central banks – have found their way into many risk-perceived assets, including Bitcoin.
“With Bitcoin moving into the mainstream and capturing greater attention, it will likely draw further scrutiny from regulators in the United States, Europe and Asia.”
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Among those surveyed, 74% already possessing bitcoin were planning to buy more of the cryptocurrency, and 47% of those who had not already invested in the coin intended on purchasing it in 2021.
Half of bitcoin investors say they entered the market within the last three months, and 71% of new investors in the past year revealed that they joined the market after the October spike that saw the coin’s value skyrocket.
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Among new investors, 26% intend to invest between £1 and £1,000 into the cryptocurrency in 2021, and 21% plan to invest between £1,000 and £10,000.
Bitcoin appears to be on an unstoppable upward trajectory, however investors believe it could also face a number of threats.
Over half of investors believe new regulatory restrictions is the biggest threat to bitcoin, and more than a quarter said that a pullback leading to a big selloff is the largest concern for the cryptocurrency.
Other potential threats mentioned by investors in the survey were competition from central banks, hacking and taxation.
When asked about the future of other cryptocurrencies, 83% of investors expect the value of ethereum to rise in 2021 and 35% expect the litecoin value to rise also.
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