According to a survey conducted by U.S. law firm Foley & Lardner LLP, investors and executives prefer Ethereum over Bitcoin and other leading coins like Monero, Dash, and Zcash. At the same time, there is a desire for more regulations in the crypto market.

Survey: Foley & Lardner

The survey — completed by more than 60 professionals, the majority of whom are investors or business executives — contained questions related to regulations, investments, initial coin offerings (ICOs), the likelihood a crash, and market capitalization, providing important statistics that enthusiasts should pay attention to in the coming year.

It showed that most of the respondents want a more regulated industry in the U.S, because, as of now, there is a lack of clarity on how to apply the current financial rules and regulations to the digital asset market.

With regards to the top coins, 43% of participants believe that Bitcoin has the greatest likelihood for point of sale (POS) purchases, but only 35% believe that it is the best investment opportunity. In fact, it is beat out by Ethereum at 38%.

As for ICOs, 84% of those surveyed by Foley & Lardner believe that the fundraising method should be regulated. At the same time, 86% said that the crypto industry needs to develop global regulatory standards.

According to the findings, the crypto industry is facing other risks too. For example, hacks and security breaches are the most pressing threats to the viability and growth of the ecosystem. 71% of respondents indicated that theft of cryptos is a strong or very strong risk.

With regards to the future, 41% of the respondents said that they thought the market would crash in the next 12 months, and another 29% believe that this will happen in the next two to five years. That said, in attempts to take advantage of the volatility in the market (the respondents were primarily executives and investors, remember), almost 60% of them would take risks in order to obtain gains.

Allison Charney, partner and member of Foley & Lardner’s Blockchain Task Force, said of the survey:

“The U.S. has long-standing anti-fraud laws that apply to cryptocurrencies, but there are potential gaps and shortcomings in this developing area. While worries about fraud aren’t necessarily surprising, they do provide another sign that industry insiders view regulation on the whole as a good thing.”

Another point of interest is that those surveyed believe Bitcoin’s market capitalization is going to be surpassed — at some point — by another digital currency like Ethereum. A combined 45% said that they believe it is “possible” but it’s too early to tell when, 5% said that it will happen within one year, 14% said that it will happen within 1 to 2 years, 18% said that it will happen within 2 to 5 years, 5% that it will happen in more than 5 years, and 11% said that it will never happen.

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