Survey: Bitcoin Investors Won't Sell Until Price Nears $200k

New survey data highlights the ideological – and economic – factors driving some investors to purchase bitcoin.

AccessTimeIconNov 16, 2017 at 6:20 p.m. UTC
Updated Aug 18, 2021 at 7:29 p.m. UTC

Presented By Icon

Election 2024 coverage presented by

Stand with crypto

New survey data highlights the ideological and economic factors driving some investors to purchase bitcoin.

A new report published today by LendEDU – which has conducted several similar studies in the past year – details the responses from 564 poll-takers. Of those, roughly 40% of participants said that they invested in bitcoin because they believe it is "a world changing technology."

  • Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
    13:18
    Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
  • Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
    05:10
    Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
  • The first video of the year 2024
    04:07
    The first video of the year 2024
  • The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
    40:07
    The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
  • Twenty-one percent of those involved say its because bitcoin is "a long term store of value, like gold or silver", with roughly 15% of those saying they bought in because a friend or family member recommended it. Those who said they think the price is "too low" accounted for 14% of respondents, while just 8% said they planned to use bitcoin as a payment method.

    Notably, the survey also asked at which price participants would choose to sell their holdings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the average of the amounts cited came out to a whopping $196,165.79 per bitcoin. Bitcoin is currently trading at around $7,680, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

    Plan to HODL?

    Further, many of those who responded to the survey don't appear to be in any rush to sell off their investments anytime soon.

    "We found that about a third, 32.62 percent, of respondents have sold some of their Bitcoin since investing. However, we found that the majority of investors, 67.38 percent, ​have not sold any of their Bitcoin investments since purchasing," LendEDU wrote in its report.

    On average, investors owned just under $3,000 in bitcoin. While 16.5 percent of these owners plan to sell within a year, 20 percent plan to hold the cryptocurrency for at least seven years.

    Another noteworthy data point: just over a third of survey-takers have no intention of reporting their trades to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which declared in 2014 that it would consider bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) as a kind of property for tax purposes.

    "We found that the majority, 64.13 percent, of respondents are planning to report or have already ​reported their bitcoin transactions to the IRS. Although, it was interesting to see that over a third, 35.87 percent, of our respondents are not planning to report their transactions to the IRS," LendEDU wrote.

    The survey follows two others from September and October, which indicated that younger people are becoming increasingly aware of bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies.

    Survey image via Shutterstock

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information have been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.