The American Paxos, which is, among other things, the publisher of the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin, did in January research to trust in centralized parties. Despite the fall of FTX and the implosion of Terra in 2022, 89 percent of people still trust centralized parties.
‘2022 has been a rollercoaster for the industry’
Paxos hosted an online survey for US investors on January 5 and 6, examining trust in the centralized players within the crypto industry. The focus of the research was on the impact on consumer behavior and trust in the crypto ecosystem, within the context of all the problems of 2022.
“2022 has been a roller coaster for the crypto industry,” writes Paxos. “We moved from Bitcoin’s all-time highs to its lowest, big players like Terra, FTX, Alameda Research and more went down. It was a volatile year and a real test for the ecosystem,” added Paxos.
Among other things, the survey found that 57 percent of respondents plan to buy more Bitcoin or simply to sit still after the news about FTX. Furthermore, the survey shows that 89 percent of people still trust intermediaries such as banks, exchanges and mobile payment applications that store their crypto.
Change coming?
The fact that the vast majority of people still rely on centralized intermediaries is already striking. However, there seems to be a small change taking place within the industry. A relatively large proportion of those surveyed indicate that they would like to be able to buy Bitcoin from their traditional bank.
Trust in traditional financial intermediaries is high, especially among the elderly. They apparently feel a lot safer to buy their crypto there than with the new parties that were born in the crypto revolution.
“Furthermore, 45 percent of respondents say they would invest more in crypto if there was more mainstream adoption by banks and other financial institutions,” Paxos writes in the survey.
According to Paxos, there is a great opportunity for banks and other parties from the traditional financial world to step up and take over part of the market. Before they do, more clarity is probably needed in the field of laws and regulations, especially with regard to altcoins.