Big Four consultancy firm PwC has recently released the findings of its “Cryptoassets Survey 2021/22”. The firm shows some exciting things; in this article, you’ll find the key points in this report! But first, why is this survey important?
PwC survey among Swiss financial industry leaders
The crypto assets survey was conducted between October and November of 2021. The research can bring us some interesting insights as the survey respondents are financial industry leaders in Switzerland, of which 36% were either a board member, executive, or non-executive board member. In addition, 56% of the respondents are in senior management or management positions.
To adopt crypto, you have to know what it is. According to the results, 29% of financial leaders say they have more than average knowledge about cryptocurrencies. 23% have average expertise, while 46% have less than average or little knowledge and experience with crypto. Only 3% is actively shaping the crypto industry at this point. In other words, there is much room for improvement regarding these financial leaders’ crypto knowledge right now.
But for them to learn about it, they need to be interested in them in the first place. Luckily only 3% state they have no interest in crypto at all and don’t believe it will impact their business in the future. 17% state being willing to stay informed but don’t believe it directly relates to their function or business. 49% want to understand crypto to define how they should react to the nascent crypto industry, which is a positive figure.
Within 3 to 5 years, crypto can disrupt the financial industry
The respondents were then asked when they think crypto could disrupt the financial industry. Interestingly, more than 96% of them expect that there will be disruption in the financial sector. 6% see this happening in the coming two years, while 56% expect disruption within three to five years. Finally, 36% think it will take a bit longer. They see disruption by crypto happening in more than five years. Only 3% believe there will never be any disruption by crypto in the financial industry.
Crypto has many use cases, and the respondents expect that the new technology can disrupt many areas of the financial industry. The two most significant areas listed by the respondents are ‘Investment Management, Advisory and Products / Mandates’ and, maybe not unsurprising, ‘Payments.’ Respectively, 41% and 31% expect these areas to be disrupted the most by crypto.
These are promising figures for the early crypto adopters, showing that crypto is likely to stay. However, the sector is still being shaped, and thus no one truly knows what role cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC) or stablecoins will play in the future. That it will play a role is nevertheless a certainty, it seems.
