Survey: Most Bitcoin Investors Expect Even Fatter Returns in 2018

Most bitcoin investors in the U.S. are expecting the cryptocurrency to perform even better next year than this year's seventeen-fold appreciation, according to a newly published survey.

LendEDU, a digital student loan startup which has now published four such surveys asking various questions about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, polled 565 Americans between Nov. 9 and Nov. 13, 2017. It found that roughly 77% of participants believe bitcoin's price will grow more quickly in 2018 than it did this year.

While bitcoin started 2017 hovering just below $1,000, it was trading at more than $16,500 with highs above $17,000 as of Dec. 14, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

Perhaps as a result, nearly 75% of investors plan to increase the size of their investments in bitcoin next year, with less than 10% not planning to, the LendEDU survey found.

On the other hand, about 31.5% of respondents plan to sell at least some of their bitcoin in 2018, with 40% stating they would not and 28.5% being unsure.

A smaller majority, 51%, said they would make at least one physical purchase using the cryptocurrency, with 30% being unsure if they would or not.

LendEDU stated that regulation could help stabilize bitcoin’s price, but excessive regulation could conflict with its core principles and alienate some of its supporters. When asked, some 50% of respondents said they would not like to see more regulation, while a hair over 30 percent of respondents said they would like to see more regulation.