•CoinGecko survey reveals that 8 out of 10 crypto investors store their digital assets on hot wallets.
•7 out of 10 respondents said they held their crypto on centralized exchanges, while 3 out of 10 used cold wallets.
•The survey was conducted between December 2022 and January 2023 and collected answers from 421 individual investors.
CoinGecko Survey Reveals Crypto Storage Habits
A CoinGecko survey revealed insights into the crypto storage behavior post-FTX collapse. The study was conducted between December 2022 and January 2023 with participants from 421 individual investors.
Hot Wallets Popular Among Investors
The survey revealed that 8 out of 10 crypto investors store their digital assets on hot wallets, which reflects the community sentiment after the FTX collapse. On the other hand, 7 out of 10 respondents said they held their crypto on centralized exchanges — while another 3 out of 10 said they used cold wallets.
Centralized Exchanges Still Dominant
The report justified this rate by saying that it is tied to the current dominance rate of centralized exchanges (CEXs) over decentralized ones — as most crypto holders remain reliant on centralized exchanges for buying and selling crypto, prioritizing convenience over security.
FTX Crash Prompted Self-Custody Movements
The FTX crash also motivated crypto organizations to turn to self-custody services — such as CryptoSlate research in November 2022 which revealed an increase in Bitcoin (BTC) reserves into self-custody wallets, accounting for 78% of the circulating supply at the time. Additionally, companies like Robinhood started working on its own self-custody wallet in December 2022 and launched it in January; while Juno publicly advised its users to turn to self-custody or sell their crypto assets in January 2021 too.
Conclusion
Overall, this CoinGecko survey suggests that despite a shift towards more secure storage methods after the FTX collapse — convenience still remains priority among cryptocurrency holders when it comes to storing digital assets safely.