U.S. Consumers Say Crypto Is Here to Stay, Stablecoins Maybe Not: Deutsche Bank

Fewer than 1% of U.S. consumers called crypto a fad, according to a Deutsche Bank survey.

Only 18% of respondents said they expected stablecoins to thrive; 42% expected them to fade.

Sentiment about bitcoin's outlook was not so positive, the survey said.

U.S. consumers are warming up to crypto, with less than 1% calling it a “fad,” a dramatic decline from previous years, Deutsche Bank (DB) said in a report on Wednesday.

Just over half of the people surveyed viewed crypto as an important asset class and method of payment, and 65% said they could see it replacing cash. The bank surveyed over 3,600 consumers in the U.S., U.K. and Europe in March and July.

“We expect cryptocurrency democratisation to advance further over the next 2-3 years driven by exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Federal Reserve policy, and regulation,” analysts Marion Laboure and Sai Ravindran wrote.

It's not all good news, with bitcoin (BTC), the world's largest cryptocurrency, garnering a gloomy outlook for the rest of the year and stablecoins, the backbone of decentralized finance (DeFi), facing an uncertain future in respondents' eyes.

A third of consumers said they thought the BTC price would be below $60,000 by year-end, and only 12%-14% thought it would cross $70,000. Bitcoin was trading around $58,200 at publication time. For the longer term, perceptions were mixed: 40% of respondents said they thought BTC would thrive in the coming years, while 38% said they expected it to disappear.

The outlook for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency that's designed to hold a steady value, was also viewed with circumspection. Just 18% of those surveyed said they expected stablecoins to thrive, whereas 42% expected them to fade. Those backed by a fiat currency such as the dollar or a traditional commodity like gold were most likely to keep their value, the survey said.

More than 50% of consumers said they were concerned about a cryptocurrency collapsing in the next two years.

Crypto adoption has remained steady in the U.S. and the U.K. in recent years, and the retail market now looks ready for a rebound, according to crypto platform Gemini's '2024 Global State of Crypto' report, published earlier this week.