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The
privately-funded WEF's survey, in collaboration with BNY Mellon
and Accenture, showed that 29% of investors said they did not
understand the nascent cryptocurrency market, whereas nearly 40%
of investors noted that they didn't understand stocks or bonds.
The survey also revealed that 70% of retail investors were under
45 years of age.
"With global adoption and trading volumes of crypto rising
substantially over the last few years, there has been a lot of
buzz about it, which is likely influencing investors' product
awareness," said Meagan Andrews, investing lead at WEF.
"Less coverage of more traditional products, like stocks and
bonds, may also have the opposite effect on awareness."
The cryptocurrency market value ballooned to as much as $3
trillion last year, according to data platform CoinMarketCap.com,
but it has lost nearly two-third of its value amid surging
inflation and tightening financial conditions.
Crypto market's peak, however, was miniscule in comparison to
the $124.4 trillion global equity market and the even bigger
$126.9 trillion bond market in 2021, according to the Securities
Industry and Financial Markets Association.
The survey comes as retail investors become a force to be
reckoned with, after they banded together on social media forums
last year to drive eye-watering rallies in GameStop and squeezed
bearish hedge funds.
A poll by Gallup published in May showed 58% of Americans said
that they own stocks.
The WEF survey of more than 9,000 individuals across nine
countries also revealed that a majority of investors were
looking to build long-term wealth.
But, about 40% of those surveyed did not invest and said they
did so because they didn't know how to invest or found investing
too confusing.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
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