Nearly half of retail investors in Russia believe that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (Bitcoin) Is a hedge asset related to stable income, according to a new survey.

The financial publication Investing.com surveyed 1,000 Russian retail investors to find the most popular types of alternative investments.

According to a Polls Among the 1,000 Russian retail investors on Investing.com, as many as 46% of respondents believe that cryptocurrency is a potentially defensive asset that allows them to hedge against financial risks in times of economic crisis.

Compared with real estate, Russian retail investors prefer cryptocurrencies because only 37% of respondents who invest in alternative assets believe that real estate is an effective investment tool.

Anastasia Kosheleva, head of Investing.com’s Russia department, said that real estate has historically been Russia’s largest hedging asset. She pointed out that cryptocurrencies have become the biggest investment trend in 2021 because they surpass other traditional assets including foreign exchange currencies and stocks.

Among the many cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is clearly the most popular alternative investment for Russians.According to a Learn According to the big data platform Brand Analytics, Bitcoin was the most popular cryptocurrency in Russia in October, surpassing Tether (USDT) And Litecoin (LTC) In terms of social media mentions.

In recent years, cryptocurrencies have become more and more popular among Russian investors. 77% of Russian investors prefer Bitcoin to gold In a survey last year.

Last week, the Central Bank of Russia issued a financial stability report, Noting the country’s increasingly important role In the global $2.8 trillion cryptocurrency market.The central bank mentioned Russia ranks third in the world In terms of the national BTC hash rate, it is one of the largest users of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.

related: Inflation winds from all over the world have brought earth-shaking changes to Bitcoin

With increasing inflation and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, investors around the world increasingly regard cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as a tool to hedge financial risks.

Goldman Sachs Energy Research Director Damian Courvalin (Damian Courvalin) said that in addition to traditional assets such as gold, investors are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to hedge against inflation. “Just as we think silver is the poor people’s gold, gold may be becoming the poor people’s cryptocurrency,” he said Said In mid-November.

Previously, Vimal Gor, Head of Alternative Duration Strategy at Pendal Group, debate Since government bonds have lost the value of hedging risks, cryptocurrencies should be added to new alternative defensive investment portfolios.