By CCN.com: The crypto virus continues to spread, and wealthy investors are rapidly contracting the bitcoin bug.
That’s the conclusion from a blockbuster survey conducted by deVere Group, a wealth adviser with more than 80,000 clients and $12 billion under advisement.
The survey, which included responses from 700 deVere clients across the world with at least £1 million in investable assets, found that 68% of high-net-worth investors plan to invest in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies within the next three years.
“The research shows that wealthy individuals are increasingly seeking exposure to cryptocurrencies,” said Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere Group. “There is growing, universal acceptance that cryptocurrencies are the future of money – and the future is now. High net worth individuals are not prepared to miss out on this and are rebalancing their investment portfolios towards these digital assets.”
Green explained that FOMO – the fear of missing out – will drive wealthy investors to add cryptocurrency to portfolios.
He predicted that the asset class would upend money like e-commerce giant Amazon plowed through the retail industry, and he said that sophisticated investors wouldn’t want to find themselves on the outside looking in.
“Crypto is to money what Amazon was to retail. Those surveyed clearly will not want to be the last one on the boat.”
Otherwise, they might end up like Warren Buffett, whose firm finally invested in Amazon stock – about two decades too late – and continues to punt at its chance to purchase bitcoin at a more than 70% discount from its all-time high.
Increasingly, it looks Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are running out of time.
DeVere’s survey adds to a growing body of research that suggests that although institutional investors and other wealthy individuals might not have piled into cryptocurrency as quickly as many bulls expected, the herd – to borrow a term from Mike Novogratz – is finally coming.
Just yesterday, CCN.com reported that a new survey from major asset manager Fidelity found that nearly half of institutional investors are bullish on cryptocurrency and 20% have already invested in the nascent asset class. Remarkably, almost three-quarters of financial advisors expressed a favorable opinion of cryptocurrency.
Green, for his part, counts himself among the bitcoin bulls. Early last month, he forecast that the bitcoin price would rally 40% to reach $7,000 by the end of the year. Following this morning’s jump, which carried bitcoin to a new 2019 high above $5,770 on Bitstamp, it’s already halfway there.
His long-term outlook is even more wildly optimistic. Last year, Green predicted that the total cryptocurrency market cap would eclipse the $20 trillion mark within the next decade. He believes altcoins will steal bitcoin’s shine, reducing the flagship cryptocurrency’s longstanding market dominance.