Startup founders are skeptical about the future of cryptocurrency, but that hasn't stopped them from investing in it anyway

pulse

December 13, 2018 10:36 PM

A survey of hundreds of startup founders found that a majority of them don't expect cryptocurrency to be a major asset to the tech industry.

A man wears a Bitcoin logo t-shirt on the floor of the Consensus 2018 blockchain technology conference in New York City, New York, U.S., May 16, 2018.

as of September 2018
for the last few months

Cryptocurrency may be seen as the money of the future, but tech startup founders are skeptical whether the decentralized technology will majorly transform their industries in the near future.

A survey of more than 500 founders at technology startups found that while 40 percent of the founders own cryptocurrency themselves, only 13 percent think that bitcoin, and blockchain technology, will become "dominant technologies" in their businesses in the future.

According to the findings from investment firm First Round, an estimated 57% of founders responded that cryptocurrency would play a purely "experimental" role in their industries and that only "a minority" of companies will have integrated it into their businesses in the next five years.

This interest and use of crypto assets at an individual level — rather than at the business or industry level — is a trend reflected in the crypto market as a whole. A research study out of the University of Cambridge found in September that a majority of crypto users are individuals.

The same study also concluded that the number of people participating in this digital, decentralized economy had doubled in the past year, and has reached an all-time high of 35 million users.

But despite the uptick in numbers, the price cryptocurrency has been in a continuous downward spiral this year. Bitcoin peaked at a price of $19,500 in January, but its value was wavering around $3,300 on Thursday. Just in the last week, the crypto market lost $14 billion in valuation.

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