Survey: More Crypto Newcomers Wary As Bitcoin Goes Mainstream

How Do People Feel About Mainstream Bitcoin Adoption?

3 in 5 crypto participants feel that the increasing mainstream Bitcoin adoption is bullish for the asset, according to a survey. Specifically, 41.4% of participants think this is very positive for Bitcoin’s legitimacy and long-term price potential, making it the most popular sentiment. Another 18.6% also felt positive about mainstream adoption of Bitcoin, but were not as enthusiastic.

Given that only a slight majority of participants are optimistic, this perhaps indicates that the crypto community is still watching to see how TradFi involvement will impact Bitcoin in the longer term. Dynamics to watch out for include whether institutional flows will create strong support for Bitcoin in a market correction, how ETF redemptions will unfold, implications of mNAV compression or expansion, as well as risks of custody concentration and ownership concentration.

In contrast, 1 in 5 crypto participants are concerned about the implications that mainstream adoption will have on Bitcoin. This includes 12.7% who feel that Bitcoin going mainstream is very negative as it may compromise core principles such as decentralization, and 7.8% who feel negative to a lesser extent about the trend. 

The remaining 19.4% of crypto participants indicated that they are neutral about Bitcoin gaining mainstream adoption. These participants might agree equally with both the pros and the cons, or do not have an opinion about the matter, or were simply undecided at the time of the survey.

More 1st Cycle Participants Wary vs Those in 2nd Cycle Onwards

Notably, 29.3% of crypto newcomers feel that Bitcoin going mainstream is negative or very negative for the asset, compared to 14.9% of participants in their second cycle and 15.7% of those in their third cycle or beyond. In other words, participants in their first crypto market cycle were 2 times more likely than experienced participants to have reservations about Bitcoin’s growing mainstream adoption. 

This points to the possibility that some of the pessimism is uninformed or reflects ‘degen’ memecoin speculators’ rejection of crypto becoming an extension of Wall Street.

On the flip side, there was also a smaller 52.0% share of first cyclers who feel positive or very positive about mainstream Bitcoin adoption, compared to the 65.2% of second cyclers and 64.4% of crypto veterans. In particular, second cycle participants had the largest share of those who feel very positive about the increasing adoption. 

Methodology

The study examined 2,549 crypto participants’ responses in the anonymous CoinGecko Bitcoin Survey, which ran from August 22 to September 11, 2025. Survey results should be taken as indicative only.

Among the survey participants, 68% considered themselves as crypto investors with mainly long-term holdings, 20% identified as traders with mainly shorter-term holdings, 7% as builders and 5% as sidelined spectators. In terms of how long participants had been in crypto, 38% were in their first cycle (0 to 3 years in crypto), 41% in their second cycle (4 to 7 years) and the remaining 21% of participants were veterans with 8 or more years of experience. Geographically, participants were mainly from Europe (31%), Asia (26%) and North America (22%), while the rest were in Africa, South America or Oceania.

This study is for illustrative and informational purposes only, and is not financial advice. Always do your own research and be careful when putting your money into any crypto or financial asset.

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Curious to find out more about our previous research studies & statistics? Check out this one we did on the most popular Bitcoin ideologies.