--- title: "Many Consumers Expect Bitcoin to Crash and Burn" description: "Bad Tidings Bitcoin may be up for now, but a sizable portion of consumers aren't expecting it to stay that way. According to a new Deutsche Bank survey shared with Reuters and Bloomberg, consumers are torn about the future of the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, with one-third of respondents saying they think its will crater by […]" date: "2024-04-10" modified: "2024-04-10" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/consumers-expect-bitcoin-crash" categories: - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "bearish" - "bitcoin" - "bitcoin halving" - "the digest" --- # Many Consumers Expect Bitcoin to Crash and Burn ![Bitcoin may be up for now, but a sizable portion of consumers aren't expecting it to stay that way for long.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Bad Tidings Bitcoin may be up for now, but a sizable portion of consumers aren't expecting it to stay that way. According to a new Deutsche Bank survey shared with [*Reuters*]() and [*Bloomberg*](), consumers are torn about the future of the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, with a full third of respondents saying they think it'll crater by year's end. Of the more than 3,600 people interviewed for the March edition of the monthly survey, only one percent said they think crypto is "just a fad" — but only 10 percent said they expect bitcoin, which is currently peaking at more than $69,000, to reach $75,000 and surpass its [all-time high of $73,798]() last month. And another third of respondents said they expect bitcoin to fall below $20,000 by the end of 2024, which hasn't occurred [since March 2023]() in the aftermath of the FTX crash. Still, the size of that survey subset is apparently shrinking — as *Reuters* notes, March's 33-ish percent is down from 36 percent in January and 35 percent in February. That level of waning consumer pessimism seems to be in line with a growing proportion of respondents who believe crypto is both valid and important. In September 2023, less than 40 percent of respondents said they think cryptocurrencies are an "important asset class and method of payment transactions," whereas in March, that percentage was up to 52. ## Half-and-Half Some analysts predict that April's upcoming "[bitcoin halving]()" — a change in the currency's underlying blockchain to keep the number of bitcoin in circulation below the cap of 21 million — further boost the coin's value. While it's too soon to say how the markets will react to this once-every-four-year halving, it nevertheless does appear to be driving enthusiasm for bitcoin. "You’re seeing a lot of continued traction that’s coming into the market because of the upcoming halving," Victoria Bills, the chief investment strategist at Banrion Capital, said in an interview with *Bloomberg.* The last time this change in circulation occurred was in 2020, when bitcoin's value leaped exponentially from $10,000 at the halving mark to [above $60,000]() by mid-2021. Between the third of respondents who are pessimistic about bitcoin's value progression and the 10 percent who think it's going to keep increasing in price lies the more than 50 percent of respondents who, as we can infer from their exclusion from these reports, don't have their minds made up one way or another about how the currency is going to fare — which suggests that even those who respect it and other cryptocurrencies as a legitimate form of tender have no clue what to make of its hills and valleys. **More on crypto crashes:** [*Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced To 25 Years* ]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()