The big crypto news of the month – with the widest potential future implications – came out of the European Union, which passed the first comprehensive set of crypto regulations last week. The legislation aims to shift responsibility onto crypto providers for lost assets and introduce new transparency and disclosure standards for the risks associated with crypto trading. It’s the first such set of rules in the world, although the Biden administration issued its own framework for recommended crypto enforcement – which has yet to pass through either chamber of Congress.
These regulations have already rattled the crypto markets, with the price of Bitcoin tumbling a bit on Friday. But where does the general public currently stand on federal crypto regulations? Compared to the last time CivicScience reported on crypto regulations in January, support has increased five percentage points (up to 59%) among U.S. adults.
Among crypto investors, support for regulation has increased by eight percentage points (up to 46% from 38%). But for crypto intenders, regulations have gained an even more substantial amount of support (up to 44% from 24% in January), which might suggest the potential for more investors to tread into the crypto arena with more guardrails in place.
Which crypto platforms are leading the charge?
With a wide array of sites dedicated to crypto investment, it’s surely hard for an intender to choose which one’s best for them – although a few are currently leading the pack with the general public. According to the latest CivicScience data at the time of writing, Coinbase is the most widely used crypto platform among U.S. adults (9% have tried it), with Binance.US and Kraken not far behind (7% have used).
Crypto.com – of Crypto.com Arena fame – is a hair behind in user share at 6%, but it currently matches Coinbase in future intent (both stand at 6%). Crypto.com and Coinbase also well lead the pack in visibility, with a majority of U.S. adults at least knowing of them (62% and 53%, respectively).
How does overall crypto use and intent stand?
Although the stock and cryptocurrency markets appear to have weathered the Silicon Valley Bank collapse without widening the blast radius, that doesn’t mean enthusiasm among crypto investors has shifted much in the past month. The latest CivicScience data shows plateauing marks for both investment experience and intent to invest in the future, even as the price of Bitcoin dropped last week after mostly clawing back from its winter lows.
After trending downward in the last CivicScience crypto report, intent to invest has ticked up a hair in April thus far (9% plan to invest in crypto, up from 8% in March). Perhaps the SVB and subsequent bank failures spooked prospective investors for a period, before returning to what’s largely been the status quo for much of the past year.
While there haven’t been major shifts in the CivicScience crypto experience readings, expect forthcoming regulations to shake up the market in the short and long term. Even if prices face more turbulence to come, prospective investors might just be more comfortable with entering such a volatile market with an extra layer of protection.
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