Report: 55% of US Investors Show Interest in Bitcoin Investment, Covid-19 Catalyst to Changing Preferences

 

A recent survey study reveals that more than half of U.S. investors (55%) have an interest in investing in bitcoin, a figure which is 19 percentage points higher than that of last year. This translates to a potential U.S. market of nearly 32 million bitcoin investor households. According to the study’s findings, this increase reflects the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on attitudes and perspectives around the digital currency.

Covid-19 Spurs Bitcoin Interest

Jointly conducted by Grayscale Investments and 8 Acre Perspective, the study details the extent of the pandemic’s influence on investors’ decision making. To illustrate, the report says, “among those who reported investing in bitcoin, 83% have made investments within the last year.”

However, when breaking down the data further, the study — conducted between June 26 and July 12 — shows that 38% of those acquiring bitcoin did so “within the past four months.” This is the period coinciding with the start of the lockdowns as well as the enforcement of social distancing regulations.

Meanwhile, the figure is lower for those investing in bitcoin five to six months ago (26%), presumably because Covid-19 was still under control. The figure is even lower for those investing between seven and 12 months ago (19%).

Asserting that the pandemic is the main driver for this upsurge in bitcoin investing, the study states:

38% of bitcoin investors had invested within the last four months, and nearly two-thirds of those reported that the ramifications of Covid-19 were a factor in their decision to do so.

Consequently, the study infers that bitcoin is no longer seen as “a niche asset class that appeals to a narrow pool of investors.” Instead, bitcoin is gravitating towards becoming a mainstream investment asset as the report explains:

“Based on this year’s survey, the market of potential bitcoin investors is 32 million strong—compared to 21 million investors just one year ago. This year, 62% of investors reported that they are ‘familiar’ with Bitcoin, compared to 53% in 2019.”

Digital Currencies Going Mainstream

The study also reveals that nearly half of those surveyed believe that “digital currencies will be regarded as mainstream by the end of the current decade.”

In the meantime, the study’s data suggests the demographics of bitcoin interested investors are not substantially different from investors overall. The only notable exception seems to be the fact that investors interested in bitcoin tend to have “an average age of 42 while those lacking interest in bitcoin average 49 years.”

Furthermore, the study provides information on the educational background of those investing in bitcoin. According to the findings, 29% of bitcoin investors are graduate degree holders while 17% do not possess a college degree. With respect to their motivations for investing in bitcoin, the study finds that 65% of respondents chose or considered bitcoin due to the small investment amounts involved. This is slightly higher than the figure for 2019 which is 59%.

The online survey study elicited comments from 1,000 US consumers aged between 25 and 65 that share responsibility for household financial decisions.

Mempool Clog: Bitcoin Hashrate Drops 40%, Backlog Shows Over 100K Unconfirmed Transactions

 

The Bitcoin network hashrate has dropped significantly over the last four days sliding from a high of 161 exahash per second (EH/s) to 90 EH/s on October 27. Today, the Bitcoin hashrate has improved a hair as the network’s security is currently hovering around 100 EH/s. However, the mempool log of unconfirmed transactions has spiked to levels not seen since the 2017 highs.

On Wednesday, October 28, 2020, the Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate is trying to regain what was lost during the last four days. According to statistics, since the October 27 high of 161 EH/s, the network hashrate is down -37.88% at 100 EH/s today. The overall SHA256 hashrate lost more than 40% between the highest point to the lowest metric recorded.

Analysts assume the drop was due to the end of the rainy season in Sichuan China and its been said that miners have been migrating to different regions in the country. The significant drop follows the network’s all-time high when the hashrate spiked to 174 EH/s on October 14, 2020.

The executive from the mining organization Hashr8, Thomas Heller, spoke about the hashrate drop on Twitter on October 26.

“Looking at the top 10 pools, we can see approx 22 EH/s left the Bitcoin network,” Heller tweeted. “Not a precise measure of course, but overlaid with the number of blocks mined per day, we can get a rough idea of the hashrate change. This coming difficulty adjustment is one to look forward to,” the executive added.

Difficulty data for October 28, 2020.

Not too long ago, BTC’s mining difficulty dropped from the highest point ever at 19.69T to today’s range of 18.60T. With the hashrate so low, miners may see the difficulty drop even lower making it easier to mine bitcoins.

The next expected difficulty change however is still five days away scheduled for on or around November 2, 2020. Today there are 17 mining pools pointing their hash at the BTC chain. The top mining operation today is F2pool with 17.93 EH/s under the hood. F2pool is followed by Poolin, Btc.com, Antpool, and Binance Pool.

Data from bitcoinfees.cash recorded at 12:00 p.m. (EST) on October 28, 2020.

Now because the hashrate dropped and it has coincided with the price of bitcoin (BTC) rising, network fees have jumped considerably. Stats from bitcoinfees.cash indicates the next BTC block fee $8.26 and the current median fee is $5.10 per transaction.

Data from the mempool shows there’s 121,000+ unconfirmed transactions waiting to be confirmed. Of course, the wait times have pushed the transaction fee market up because people are paying higher fees to get their BTC transactions confirmed.

For now, miners will have to be patient and wait out the five days in order for the difficulty to drop lower. It is uncertain how much migration is happening in China right now as far as Sichuan operations are concerned, but most of the hashrate losses stemmed from China-based mining pools.

Coinbase Launches Cryptocurrency Visa Card in the US

 

U.S. customers can now apply for the Coinbase Visa, a card that allows users to spend digital assets anywhere Visa is accepted. In addition to the U.S. launch, Coinbase cardholders will be able to earn up to 4% back in stellar or 1% back in bitcoin.

A while back, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency firm Coinbase launched the Coinbase Visa debit card for European customers. Coinbase disclosed that the card is now being leveraged in 30 different countries within the UK and Europe.

On Wednesday, the company announced that American residents can now register for the crypto card.

“Starting today, customers in the U.S. can join the waitlist for Coinbase Card, a Visa debit card that allows crypto to be used for payments and purchases online and in-store as well as for ATM cash withdrawals,” the company announced. The announcement explains that the Coinbase card will allow people to spend with nine different cryptocurrencies.

Similarly to competitor cards from firms like Crypto.com, U.S. card users will be able to obtain purchase rewards from Coinbase. “At launch, customers can opt to earn 4% back in stellar lumens (XLM) or 1% back in bitcoin (BTC),” the San Francisco tech firm detailed. American Coinbase card applicants must be fully verified on the system and there will be a wait time until the firm makes its first approvals.

“The first customers will be approved this winter,” Coinbase disclosed. “Once customers are approved, they can spend with a virtual card right away and will receive a physical card in the mail within two weeks.”

Coinbase notes that there is no fee required in order to issue the card, but standard crypto conversion fees may apply. Much like the Crypto.com Visa or the Bitpay Mastercard, the Coinbase card will also provide a virtual card. The firm detailed during the announcement that users can utilize the virtual Coinbase Visa as soon as they are approved.

The company also details that the card is powered by Marqeta, and issued by the FDIC member Metabank. “Coinbase will automatically convert all cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars for use in purchases and ATM withdrawals,” the company announcement concludes.

According to the firm, U.S. residents from all the states are eligible except for residents from Hawaii.