Investors in the UK are bullish on bitcoin despite market troubles

The largest survey of investor attitudes to cryptocurrencies reveals that UK retail investors are hungry to enter the crypto market. 

In a global survey commissioned by crypto exchange Bitstamp, the newly released results show that 40 per cent of the UK investors surveyed have invested in cryptocurrencies.

This compares to the 52 per cent recorded from retail investors situated across the wider European market. 

Despite two-fifths of UK investors saying that they have invested in crypto, 31 per cent have reported that they would like to invest in crypto but feel that they don't know enough about it. 

According to Bitstamp, the top three barriers to entry in the UK include a lack of knowledge about crypto (55 per cent), insecure about which platforms to trust (40 per cent) and fear that the risks associated with cryptocurrencies were too high for their appetites (36 per cent). 

However, nearly half of all respondents in the UK reported that they would be comfortable paying for everyday items like groceries and clothing with crypto – an uptick from the 41 per cent recorded in Q1 2022. 

That said, more than a fifth of respondents did not feel that the crypto market was regulated enough and that they looked to regulatory bodies and Government to double down on supervising the nascent industry. 

"Despite the recent market challenges, investors in the UK still want to learn more about crypto. We believe education is the way forward to driving mainstream adoption of crypto,"  Bitstamp's global chief executive, Jean-Baptiste Gratfieaux said. 

In line with this ethos of educating retail investors, Bitstamp has launched its 'Summer of Discovery' program to help onboard new retail users to its exchange platform.  

Initiatives include offering 0 per cent trading fees, rollouts of its Apple Pay and Google Pay integrations and expansion of its 'Learn Center'. 

Bitstamp is not the only company trying to lure new investors in by streamlining its onboarding processes and offering educational initiatives. 

In July, Revolut launched its crypto-education feature on its app, offering customers rewards for completing short courses on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Customers are offered Polkadot (DOT)  tokens for completing each course, with an additional DOT-denominated amount given for completing the final quiz. 

Since the pandemic, bitcoin's correlation to traditional stocks and indices has grown significantly, signalling a maturing market. 

Although rising correlations are driven by institutional investors, a study by Raphael Auer and David Tercero-Lucas for the Bank of International Settlements found that a maturing crypto infrastructure and mainstream accessibility have been central to retail adoption. 

By having payment providers like Revolut and PayPal offer cryptocurrencies to non-crypto native investors and exchanges like Bitstamp focusing on educating its new users,  retail audiences have grown.

In a study conducted by blockchain risk analysis firm Chainalysis in 2021, the UK ranked first for crypto activity in Western Europe.