- A JPMorgan survey of institutional traders found that 72% don't plan on trading cryptocurrencies or digital assets this year.
- That's compared to about a quarter of traders who said that last year.
Crypto tokens may have finally lost their shine on Wall Street, despite signs of strength to start the year in big-cap tokens like bitcoin and ether.
But despite the recent strength, 72% of traders say they don't have any plans to trade crypto or digital assets in 2023, according to a survey from JPMorgan. That's compared to about a quarter of traders who said that a year ago.
Amid the souring sentiment around crypto, just 8% of traders said they currently were trading cryptos, and 14% said that they planned to within five years. Meanwhile, 6% noted that they did not currently trade cryptos but planned to do so within the next 12 months.
That dim view aligns with some other heavyweights on Wall Street. For instance, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly dismissed bitcoin and crypto. Last month, he slammed bitcoin as a "hyped-up fraud," and in December he likened cryptocurrencies to "pet rocks."
The JPMorgan survey was conducted in January, after a dismal 2022 for the crypto sector 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 spillover to cryptos has seemingly left a investors with a taste aversion to digital assets. The FTX crash also followed the collapse of other crypto platforms last year, like Voyager Digital and Celsius.
And while bitcoin is up 39% from the start of this year, that isn't enough to convince Wall Street to take on more bets, especially given an already challenging macroeconomic environment and a Federal Reserve still trying to tame inflation with more rate hikes.