Crypto Is Now Toxic On Wall Street And An Overwhelming Majority Of Traders Are Unwilling To Touch It This Year, JPMorgan Survey Finds

• A JPMorgan survey of institutional traders found that 72% do not plan to trade cryptocurrencies or digital assets this year.
• This compares to around a quarter of traders who said this last year.
• Meanwhile, only 8% said they were actively trading crypto.

Crypto tokens may have finally lost their shine on Wall Street, despite signs of strength to start the year in large-cap tokens like bitcoin and ether.

But despite recent strength, 72% of traders say they have no plans to trade crypto or digital assets in 2023, according to a JPMorgan survey. This compares to around a quarter of traders who said this a year ago.

Amid soured sentiment around crypto, just 8% of traders said they currently trade cryptos, and 14% said they plan to do so within five years. Meanwhile, 6% noted that they are not currently trading crypto but plan to do so within the next 12 months.

This grim outlook aligns with some other Wall Street heavyweights. For example, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly dismissed bitcoin and crypto. Last month, he called bitcoin “fashion fraud“, and in December he compared cryptocurrencies to”pet rocks.“

The JPMorgan survey was conducted in January, following a dismal 2022 for the crypto industry that saw bitcoin plunge nearly 70%.

The November collapse of FTX, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange at the time of its bankruptcy, and the ensuing fallout on cryptos has seemingly left investors with a taste aversion to digital assets. FTX’s crash also followed the collapse of other crypto platforms last year, such as Voyager Digital and Celsius.

And while bitcoin is up 39% since the start of this year, that’s not enough to convince Wall Street to take more bets, especially given an already challenging macro environment and a Federal Reserve still trying bring inflation under control with more rate hikes.