A survey conducted by Thomson Reuters revealed that roughly 20% of financial institutions are taking cryptocurrencies into consideration for their plans over the next 12 months. The survey was conducted with the participation of over 400 of Thomson Reuters’ clients, which include hedge funds and trading desks at some of the largest banks in the world. Moreover, 70% of those who responded positively to the survey have plans to become involved with cryptocurrencies within the next three to six months.
With results like these, it should be quite clear that institutional investors will come in greater numbers to the cryptocurrency market this year than ever before. If this happens, activity should significantly rise for several coins, which is one tell-tale sign that a market is beginning to mature.
Although the results of the survey paint a clearer picture of where some institutions stand on cryptocurrencies, it must be noted that it only involved Thomson Reuters’ clients, which could skew the results somewhat. And because of this, it’s also not possible at this moment to really get an idea of how things have changed since early 2017, as this is the first survey the company has done of its own clients.
Nonetheless, the results prove that cryptocurrencies are beginning to gain a new status in financial circles, possibly preparing them for the boost in prestige that they need for the general public to want to be involved.
The survey sits atop growing evidence that mainstream status isn’t very far away. For example, Ripple released a report in October last year showing that more than 100 financial institutions have joined RippleNet.
And for those who do not consider Ripple a “real” cryptocurrency, major banks are already working with Bitcoin. Since May 2017, Skandiabanken bank in Norway has been offering its customers the possibility to link their Bitcoin wallets to their bank accounts.
This trend may actually help mitigate some of the security issues that independently-developed cryptocurrency wallets have, thus making investments in cryptocurrency safer than they have ever been before.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
