According to a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey, over 40% of investors claimed they didn’t comprehend stocks or bonds whereas just 29% of investors said they didn’t grasp the developing cryptocurrency sector.
According to a study released on Thursday by the World Economic Forum (WEF), retail investors regard existing stock and bond markets to be more mysterious than the uncharted territory of cryptocurrencies.
A poll conducted by the privately-funded WEF in partnership with BNY Mellon and Accenture revealed that although over 40% of investors claimed they didn’t understand stocks or bonds, just 29% of investors said they understood the emerging cryptocurrency market.
Seventy percent of retail investors were under the age of 45, according to the report.
According to Meagan Andrews, investment lead at WEF, “global adoption and trading volumes of crypto have increased dramatically over the last few years, and there has been a lot of talk about it, which is likely affecting investors’ product knowledge.”
It’s possible that less coverage of traditional financial instruments like stocks and bonds will have the reverse effect on public understanding.
According to data portal CoinMarketCap.com, the global value of cryptocurrencies surged to as high as $3 trillion last year, but it has since dropped by about two-thirds due to rising inflation and tighter financial conditions.
According to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the peak of the cryptocurrency industry was, however, insignificant in light of the $124.4 trillion global equities market and the even larger $126.9 trillion bond market in 2021.
The poll comes at a time when ordinary investors are starting to make their presence felt. Last year, they teamed up on social media forums to fuel dizzying gains in GameStop and pressure negative hedge funds.
According to a Gallup survey released in May, 58 percent of Americans claimed they were stock owners.
A majority of investors, according to the WEF poll of over 9,000 people in nine countries, wanted to accumulate long-term wealth.
However, approximately 40% of those polled claimed they didn’t invest because they didn’t know how or thought it was too complicated.
