Evolving Consumer Attitudes: Interest in Bitcoin Remains Strong

Bank of America Survey Says 23% of U.S. Adults Plan to Buy Crypto Soon

Hey, what's your attitude about crypto? Do you think you're going to want to buy bitcoin anytime soon? We've got some new surveys out. One of them from Bank of America. 23% of U.S. adults say they plan to buy crypto within the next month. And 91% who already own bitcoin say they intend to buy more within the next six months. In January, 26% said that.

In other words, pretty much the same number of people who liked Bitcoin when it was very high in price still like it today. And who are these people? Well, 58% of them earn $50,000 or more. 40% are over the age of 40. If you think crypto is only for kids, you're making a big mistake. And 41% are Black or Latino. And two thirds say that the reason that they're buying bitcoin is to hold it as an asset in their portfolio to make money with it. A third say they use it as a form of payment.

The SEC and Approving a Bitcoin ETF

So this adds on fuel to the fire, to my comments about Gary Gensler and the SEC refusing to approve a Bitcoin ETF. Clearly there is as much consumer and investor interest in Bitcoin as ever, and the failure to approve a Bitcoin ETF isn't getting these people to stop buying it. Simply forcing them to buy an alternative investment that's much more expensive, that's much riskier, that's less liquid, less transparent.

I don't get it. If consumers want it and they're making an informed decision and willing to take the risk associated with it, why is Gary Gensler acting like somebody's mother putting up a paternalistic attitude of, “I'm not going to let you do it even if you want to do it?” 

That's not their job at the SEC. Their job is to make sure that disclosures are correct, that the consumer has fair and full information to make an informed decision, not to make the decision for them. In fact, the SEC's attitude is in complete contradiction to what's going on in the marketplace right now. 

Rick Rieder is the chief investment officer of Global Fixed Income at BlackRock. That's the world's biggest money manager with $10 trillion in assets. He just told Yahoo! Finance, "I still think Bitcoin and crypto are durable assets". If BlackRock, the biggest money manager in the world, thinks Bitcoin belongs in portfolios, why on earth is the SEC acting as a roadblock? Preventing it makes no sense.