In a survey conducted by Japan-based GMO Financial Holdings, Inc. (securities code: 7177) on users of GMO Coin, Inc., a consolidated subsidiary of GMO Financial Holdings that operates a cryptocurrency exchange, about 70% of respondents replied that they have positive expectations for the future of cryptocurrencies and the coin they expect most from is Bitcoin (BTC).

The survey was conducted on 1,578 GMO Coin users from April 15 to 29, 2020. In response to the question “What expectations do you have for the future of cryptocurrencies? (single answer),” 49% replied: “I have high expectations” (42% in 2019); 24% replied “I have slight expectations” (25% in 2019); 19% replied “Neither” (20% in 2019); 5% replied “I have weak expectations” (8% in 2019); and, 3% replied “I have no expectations” (5% in 2019). Overall, many users have positive expectations for the future of cryptocurrencies. Those who replied that they have positive expectations reached 73%, surpassing the previous year’s result of 67%.

In addition, in response to the question “Which cryptocurrency do you expect to show the highest increase in price in 2020? (single answer),” BTC, which accounted for 47%, was ranked No.1, followed by Ripple (XRP, 31%), Ethereum (ETH, 9%), NEM (XEM, 5%), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH, 3%). Although XRP accounted for 56% in the 2019 survey and was ranked No. 1, BTC rose to the top position in the latest survey.

In response to the question “How do you want to utilize your cryptocurrencies? (multiple answers),” “Investment (long-term holding)” accounted for 73.7% (72.7% in 2019), “Investment (short-term holding)” for 42.8% (32.1% in 2019), “Payment method” for 20.4% (19.2% in 2019), “Remittance method” for 18.6% (13.6% in 2019), and “Financing” for 10.3% (8.8% in 2019). Similar to last year, investment purposes accounted for the majority.

Users who had started trading cryptocurrencies during or after 2019 accounted for 34%, showing that the number of market participants is increasing, despite the ongoing slowdown of the cryptocurrency market since 2018.

*This article was written by FISCO.