Crypto's Rising Popularity Masks Risk and Reward
The popularity of cryptocurrency has grown significantly over the past five years, with a 300% increase in interest compared to the preceding period. According to Google Trends, the search term 'crypto' has seen a fourfold increase in baseline popularity, even as Bitcoin's price struggles to break out of a downturn that began last October.
This rise in popularity can be attributed to the growth of institutional investment, spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and developments such as real-world assets being onboarded onchain through tokenization. The Charles Schwab 2025 Modern Wealth Survey found that two-thirds of surveyed American investors believe they must look beyond traditional investment products for better investing success.
Breaking down portfolio allocation, stocks comprise an average of 25% of investors' portfolios, followed by mutual funds at 13%, bonds at 8%, and cryptocurrencies at 10%. Half the Americans surveyed agreed that investing today requires more short-term risk than it did in the past. With high volatility comes big rewards.