Crypto winter's not that cold: Coinbase survey shows 62% of investors increased allocations over 12 months

A Coinbase survey found that crypto winter may not be as cold as expected.

The 2022 Digital Assets Outlook Survey shows that 62% of investors who are currently invested in crypto increased their allocations in the past 12 months compared to 12% who decreased allocations.

"This is evidence that institutional investors have continued to take a long-term view of the asset class even as prices have fallen," the exchange said. "Looking ahead, 58% of investors expect to increase their allocations over the next three years."

About 59% of investors are currently using or planning to use a buy-and-hold approach, according to the poll.

The survey interviewed 140 institutional investors to get a read on current sentiment and outlook toward digital assets since the start of the current crypto winter.

To be sure, the survey was conducted prior to the meltdown of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX and Alameda. The firms—which jointly filed for bankruptcy protection—have sent a ripple effect across the entire market, spurring further fears of contagion. 

Despite a broad belief in the promise of crypto, only 7.9% of institutional investors surveyed by Coinbase expect crypto prices will trend higher in the next 12 months. The price of bitcoin has fallen more than 50% since the beginning of the yeat at around $16,000, The Block's Data Dashboard shows. 

Further, the survey participants valued regulatory compliance above all else when selecting a crypto partner, followed by security and trust. Following FTX’s implosion, centralized exchanges scrambled to offer a snapshot of their reserves in an attempt to show transparency.

Crypto markets still have not recovered from the downturn spurred by the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which depressed not only cryptocurrencies but NFT prices as well. Even stocks for crypto firms such as Coinbase and Block have also fallen due to market conditions.