Co-founder of BlockFi and senior vice president of operations, Flori Marquez, shared the company’s insight on collected customers’ data and shed some light on the crypto industry’s growth as they have seen “huge moves” of Americans interested in it, suggesting a burgeoning adoption.
Flori marquez spoke out about some fascinating numbers during a Yahoo Finance interview. In the year over year Bitcoin returned 112%, and compared to gold and S&P respectively, she said, “that’s a negative 4% and 24%.”
The last 30 days have seen volatility year after year. But it’s still a great investment for people who were participating a year ago.
Marquez claims this year was big for crypto in terms of mainstream consumer demand, which took BlockFi to research amongst customers’ data to try understand their sentiment on Bitcoin at the moment.
we’ve seen that 1 in 10 people plan to gift crypto this year. A third of Americans are more comfortable talking about crypto than they were five years ago. Only 1% had ever traded cryptocurrency, while 50% had not heard about it five years prior.
BlockFi has around 75,000 clients using their Visa Signature Credit Card which offers rewards in Bitcoin, “And that’s absolutely huge because most fintech companies look to see about 10,000 credit cards in their first year” Marquez added and further suggested that Americans are highly interested in earning “different types of awards”, but not necessarily looking forward to earn cash back.
BlockFi’s co-founder claims that 2/3 of their clients “actually spend less with cash back” since starting to use their Bitcoin-rewards cards because they are “more into crypto”. Their clients nowadays show a long-term ‘hodlers’ way of thinking, and see BTC as an asset that could generate them an important yearly return that cash cannot offer.
when they receive a Bitcoin reward, they’re not selling that for cash. So the upside isn’t necessarily the $140 that you’re receiving in Bitcoin today. What could Bitcoin’s value in a year?
Chainalysis’s research has shown that crypto adoption in October 2021 had increased by over 2300% from Q3 2019, and more than 881% over the previous year. This is because many countries are facing devaluations, citizens around the globe want to save their money, and institutional investments have also been a major boost. Crypto’s total market cap reached $3 Trillion in 2021. It currently stands at $2,2 Trillion.
Similar Reading| Is The NFT Bubble Over? Ecologists sharpen knives while prices drop 65%
BlockFi is seeing the growth of crypto driven by FOMO
During 2022, Marquez expects to see more first timers American customers enter the crypto space as she thinks that “a huge driver is going to be FOMO”, meaning that the industry is getting so popular –and cash is looking less useful– that people do not want to miss out on the possible returns.
| FOMO Alert: Spot Bitcoin Buying Volume remains low despite a new ATH
Marquez believes that this Holiday season may encourage FOMO because many people are discussing their investments in 2021 and the results. “I do think that crypto has become a bit more digestible for the average consumer than it was five years ago”, she claims.
Furthermore, Marquez thinks that crypto will keep seeing new talent come in, people who have changed paths trying to find a “right fit” for the long-term during the pandemic. She claimed there will be more “shifting from other more traditional industries into crypto and the fintech sector”, and thinks that’s a new opportunity to bring in historically excluded demographics.
As many others do, Marquez hopes to see some regulatory clarity for crypto next year, and commented that “BlockFi is a huge believer in partnership with regulators” to achieve building a bridge that connects traditional finance with crypto. Clarity would encourage mainstream adoption as people will perceive the space to be safer if it is regulated.