The US FINRA (Financial Industrial Regulatory Authority) recently published the results of a survey conducted last year about the motivations behind fresh crypto investors. It revealed that friends’ suggestions, coupled with FOMO (fear of missing out) were bigger driving factors in crypto investment than in bond or equities investments.
The Formidable FOMO Push
According to the survey, about 31% of new investors in the cryptocurrency industry talked about friend suggestions being the main reason why they entered crypto. In comparison, a much lower 8% of new bonds or equities investors cited a similar reason. This led to the conclusion that crypto investing has a certain social element that is not particularly evident for bond or equities investments.
The second most cited reason, standing at 24%, was the room, to begin with, a considerably small amount. This was similar to the percentage of bond and equities investors who cited the same reason. Finally, about 10% cited FOMO on an opportunity for a potentially lucrative investment made them start buying crypto.
The survey further found that a whopping 48% talked about getting information regarding the market of digital assets from work colleagues, family, or friends. For equities/bonds investors, it stands at 35%. 25% of respondents said they got their information from social media.
The FINRA survey further found that more recent investors in crypto had a slightly younger average age (37 years) than stock investors. They also had less college education (28.5% till completing a 4-year degree) on average. The stock investors’ average for both these criteria is 43 years and 46.3%. Finally, and perhaps the most interestingly, owners of digital assets did not seem to have as much knowledge regarding crypto as they originally thought.
