- Crypto News - Knight Frank Clients Least Exposed to Cryptocurrency

The 2018 Wealth Report from the international real estate consulting firm, Knight Frank discovered that their clients had been exposed to digital currencies the least among all the assets surveyed, ranking below gold.

A chart from the Knight Frank Attitudes Survey displays the percentage of clients who witnessed an increase in exposure to specific assets, placing digital currencies under gold at 21 percent.

However, in the survey question, “How has your clients’ exposure to the following investments changed over the past 12 months?” the global average response for cryptocurrency exposure is 16 percent while the worldwide average for gold is lower at 15 percent and 6 percent for bonds respectively.

Although others somewhat consider Bitcoin (BTC) as a “digital gold,” the World Gold Council sees the significant differences between the two assets as gold’s diverse application and uses in the central banks, tech and jewelry industry and BTC’s lower “day-to-day liquidity.”

The percentage measures the difference between those who reported a decrease versus those who reported an increase.

Latin America appears to be the region with the highest exposure to digital currencies at 33 percent, which may be associated with the rising hyperinflation in Venezuela’s economy. The hyperinflation may result to Venezuela’s “Bitcoinization” considering that more Venezuelans have turned to crypto instead of the Bolivar, whose overall value, at one point, last dropped to only half of the virtual gold in World of Warcraft.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro attempted to capitalize on the popularity of crypto in the nation, releasing a state-backed coin, El Petro, at the end of February to uncertain fanfare.

Asia is the region with the lowest average increase in exposure to virtual currencies at 5 percent. The limited exposure could be attributed to the existing crypto bans in China including Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), domestic and foreign exchanges. South Korea, which is famous for vast cryptocurrency utilization, also implemented a crypto ban against anonymous trading on digital currency exchanges this year.

The Knight Frank Wealth report also includes an article about the potential of the blockchain to streamline property markets. Countries across the globe have already started using the blockchain for real estate, having the Swedish government land registry ready to conduct its first blockchain property transaction soon. In America, a blockchain pilot program for real estate in Vermont has already completed the US’s first all-blockchain real estate transaction.

The wealth report also asks about Knight Frank customers’ perception of the blockchain technology. The most answer for the worldwide average of respondents is “I doubt many of my clients have heard of Blockchain.” 4 percent of the global average responded “blockchain is already having a tangible impact,” with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Russia tied with North America at 8 percent.

Knight Frank has 370 offices around 55 nations, managing more than $817 billion worth of properties ranging from residential and commercial to agricultural.