A recent Wells Fargo/Gallup poll has found that whilst a comparatively small percentage of US adults currently own Bitcoin, a significant portion of investors are intrigued by the cryptocurrency.

More specifically, a mere 2% of the interviewed investors reported that they own Bitcoin at this point in time, and an abysmal less than 0.5% plan to buy Bitcoin in ”the near future”.

Nonetheless, a substantial 26% of investors report that they are ”intrigued” by Bitcoin – although these also will probably not ”be buying it anytime soon”. The vast majority of investors, 72%, stated that they ”have no interest in ever buying Bitcoin”.

These findings come from the second quarter report on the Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index Survey. Moreover, this was an online-orchestrated survey, and it was undertaken during May 7 – 14 through the Gallup Panel.

The survey mainly focused on adults in the US who have at least $10,000 invested in some form of financial securities, i.e. stocks, bond or mutual funds. This includes investments both within or outside retirement savings accounts.

The survey also showed a clear preference for Bitcoin ownership amongst wealthy investors, with those earning $90,000 or more being three times as likely to own Bitcoin compared to lower-income investors.

Furthermore, 29% of investors say that they know ”something” about digital currencies – and a further 67% have heard of digital currencies.

However, the main consensus among investors seems to be that Bitcoin is considered a ”very risky” investment – with a whopping 75% labeling the cryptocurrency as very risky.

The Gallup survey continues to suggest that ”the widespread perception that trading in the currency is not safe” is the biggest constraint to Bitcoin sales.

This echoes sentiment by others, such as the recent comments by Commissioner Hester M. Peirce who noted that avoiding institutionalization of Bitcoin would lead to a more enduring negative perception of the cryptocurrency.

Peirce also added that it could also hinder innovation in providing more comprehensive and effective security measures to investors, which seemingly lines up with the statements in the Gallup survey.

It will be interesting to see how these statistics develop in upcoming Gallup polls. The possibility of Bitcoin ETFs have recently been a hot topic and if these are indeed green-lit, one could expect to see Bitcoin investments increase substantially.

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