A recent survey by Deutsche Bank found that retail investors are concerned about the future of Bitcoin, with many fearing that BTC could fall below $20,000 this year, according to the bank.
The survey of 2,000 consumers in the US, UK and Europe was conducted following the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month.
According to data, since the ETFs launched on January 11, Bitcoin has fallen nearly 20% to $39,000. More than a third of survey respondents believe Bitcoin will fall below $20,000 by the end of this year. Additionally, more than half of respondents stated that they believe a “major cryptocurrency” will completely collapse within the next two years.
Marion Laboure, an analyst at London-based Deutsche Bank, said institutions have been slow to bring new funds into their portfolios and retail investors are not fully convinced they need it.
Looking specifically at Bitcoin, Deutsche Bank reported that 39% of survey participants think Bitcoin will continue to exist in the coming years, while 42% predict it will disappear. “The results of the survey point to a lack of understanding of cryptocurrencies, with two-thirds of consumers having little or no knowledge about these digital assets,” Laboure said.
Laboure added that the negative sentiment could be linked to past events such as the collapse of FTX in 2022 and the SEC's lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, two of the world's largest exchanges.
Laboure wrote that despite Bitcoin's decline in January, it still has potential upside in the coming months, including the upcoming SEC decision on spot Ethereum ETFs in May and the expected Bitcoin halving in April.