Some of the world’s biggest institutional crypto investors have revealed what they believe are the most significant ‘growth drivers’ in the global crypto industry and you might be surprised.

In a survey conducted by Binance Research, the investors were asked to rank eight potential growth drivers for the crypto market.

The number-one ranked growth driver was “change in global and local regulations”.

“In general, regulation, both local and global, seems to be the key factor that is widely monitored by the sampled market participants,” the research report states.

ETF market development was ranked the second most powerful growth driver. Somewhat surprising is the low-rank of cryptocurrency initiatives by companies such as Facebook and Samsung.

The top-eight growth drivers identified by institutional investors are as follows:

Change in global and local regulations. ETF’s. Traditional brokerages offering crypto service (e-trade, Fidelity) Development of options contracts. Physically settled futures contracts (Bakkt). Stablecoin by Facebook. Samsung initiatives (crypto-wallet phones). Stablecoin by JPMorgan.

Crypto market growth drivers could also be risks

The Binance Research survey also asked institutional investors to rank crypto market risks.

The number-one risk identified by respondents was ‘technological failure’.

“When requested to evaluate potential risks & negative factors for the cryptoasset industry, the biggest concern is undoubtedly technology risks such as getting hacked,” the research report states.

While regulatory moves was identified as the biggest market growth driver, Binance Research says most respondents also viewed it as a risk.

“Regulation can either assist and foster growth by providing a framework within which crypto projects can work and flourish, or it could stymie growth and development, thus demonstrating the potential large upsides and downsides that regulation has on this space, depending on how it evolves.”

The top-five risks identified by institutional investors are as follows:

Technology failure (hack, etc.). Change in global and local jurisdictions (eg. CN, US, EU). Tether legal issues. Security test (Howey test). Privacy risk.

Bitcoin to dominate

There’s one cryptocurrency institutional investors are most bullish on – Bitcoin.

“More than 80% of the participants expect Bitcoin market capitalisation to be between 40% and 60% at the end of December 2019,” states the report.

“It illustrates the special status of Bitcoin as the bellwether of the cryptocurrency and digital asset industry.”

The research report, published this morning, is the first of its kind created by Binance Research.

41 institutional investors and VIP clients who use Binance took part in the poll.