As the cryptocurrency market endured one of its most punishing selloffs of 2018 on June 27, a comprehensive investor survey released the same day by international law firm Foley & Lardner delivered a surprising finding: Ethereum had surpassed Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency that investors believe offers the best opportunity. The juxtaposition of bearish market conditions with bullish investor sentiment captured the deep divide between short-term price action and long-term conviction that defined the crypto landscape in mid-2018.
TL;DR
- Foley & Lardner survey finds Ethereum (38%) edges out Bitcoin (35%) as top investment pick
- Bitcoin leads payment adoption expectations at 43%, followed by Ethereum at 17%
- 41% of respondents anticipate a crypto crash within the next 12 months
- 69% support allowing crypto ETFs for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
- 70% favor federal regulation of initial coin offerings
- Market carnage: BTC near $6,157, ETH around $442, with most top-20 coins hitting 2018 lows
The Survey That Captured a Divided Market
The Foley & Lardner survey polled cryptocurrency investors and industry participants on a range of topics including regulations, investments, crash expectations, and payment adoption. The results painted a picture of a market that was simultaneously fearful and forward-looking — a duality that was especially apparent in the responses about investment preferences.
When asked which cryptocurrency provides the best investment opportunity, 38% of respondents chose Ethereum, narrowly edging out Bitcoin at 35%. Ripple followed at a distant 5%, with Dash and the privacy coins Zcash and Monero each garnering 2%. Notably, 9% of respondents selected “None,” reflecting the skepticism that had taken hold during the prolonged bear market.
The results marked a notable shift in investor perception. While Bitcoin had long dominated the narrative as the flagship cryptocurrency, Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities and its growing ecosystem of decentralized applications appeared to be winning over investors who were looking beyond simple store-of-value propositions.
Bitcoin Still Leads on Payments
Despite Ethereum’s edge as an investment pick, respondents still viewed Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency most likely to achieve broad acceptance as a payment method. When asked about payment adoption, 43% selected Bitcoin, well ahead of Ethereum at 17% and Ripple at 10%. Dash captured 5%, while the privacy-focused Zcash and Monero combined for just 2%.
This divergence — Ethereum as the better investment, Bitcoin as the better payment vehicle — suggested that investors in mid-2018 were beginning to differentiate between use cases rather than treating all cryptocurrencies as a single asset class. The distinction would prove prescient as the market matured over the following years.
Crash Fears and Regulatory Demands
The survey revealed deep anxieties about market stability. A striking 41% of respondents said they anticipated a cryptocurrency crash or bubble burst within the next 12 months. Another 29% expected one within two to five years, while only 27% believed no crash was coming. These fears were hardly abstract — on the very day the survey was published, the market was in the midst of a significant selloff that had pushed most major coins to their lowest levels of 2018.
Despite the fears, investors were not retreating from the market. When asked whether they were willing to take on legal risk in pursuing cryptocurrency investments — drawing parallels to disrupters like Uber — 58% said yes. This willingness to embrace risk in a falling market suggested that many investors viewed the downturn as a buying opportunity rather than a reason to exit.
On regulation, the message was unambiguous. A commanding 70% of respondents said initial coin offerings should be regulated by the U.S. federal government, and 69% supported allowing investors to access exchange-traded funds holding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Additionally, 86% said the crypto industry should develop common voluntary standards — the highest consensus figure in the entire survey.
Kathryn Trkla, a partner and member of Foley’s Blockchain Task Force, noted that the strong support for regulation likely stemmed from the recognition that cryptocurrency transactions inevitably interface with existing regulated financial infrastructure. When crypto is exchanged for fiat currency or used to pay for goods and services, it enters the traditional financial system — and respondents wanted clarity on the rules governing those intersections.
Market Bloodbath Provides a Sobering Backdrop
The survey results landed on a day when the cryptocurrency market was bleeding heavily. Bitcoin had fallen approximately 3% to trade around $6,100, dangerously close to testing the psychologically critical $6,000 support level for the second time in 2018. Ethereum had shed roughly 5% to hover near $435, with analysts warning that a drop below $400 could trigger further selling pressure.
The altcoin market was faring even worse. Bitcoin Cash had tumbled below $700, marking a decline of over 7% and a staggering 60% drop from its April highs near $1,900. EOS, despite the excitement surrounding its recent mainnet launch, had plunged to approximately $7.40, down nearly 8%. Litecoin had fallen 6% to around $77 — a level not seen since November 2017, more than six months earlier. TRON had slipped below $0.04 despite its own mainnet launch fanfare, and Cardano had broken below $0.13 to test new 2018 lows.
Even the usually resilient Stellar had tested its 2018 low of $0.19 and briefly dropped below it. NEO had fallen under the psychologically important $30 level. IOTA had slipped below $1. Among the top-20 cryptocurrencies, only Monero managed a modest gain of about 1% on a day characterized by near-universal selling.
Can Bitcoin’s Market Cap Be Surpassed?
One of the more forward-looking questions in the survey asked whether respondents believed Bitcoin’s market capitalization would ever be surpassed by another cryptocurrency. The answers revealed deep uncertainty: 35% said it was possible but too early to tell, while 14% believed it would happen within one to two years and 18% said within two to five years. Only 11% said Bitcoin’s dominance would never be challenged.
With Bitcoin’s market cap at approximately $105 billion and Ethereum’s at around $44 billion on June 27, the gap was substantial but not insurmountable in a market known for dramatic reversals. The fact that nearly half of respondents believed Bitcoin would eventually lose its crown — even if they disagreed on the timeline — reflected the competitive dynamics that would continue to shape the crypto ecosystem for years to come.
Why This Matters
The Foley & Lardner survey captured a market at a crossroads. On one hand, investors were reeling from a brutal selloff that had erased hundreds of billions in market cap from the crypto space since the start of 2018. On the other hand, their survey responses revealed growing sophistication — differentiating between investment and payment use cases, demanding regulatory clarity, and expressing willingness to hold through volatility. The fact that Ethereum narrowly beat Bitcoin as the top investment pick on a day when ETH was down 5% showed that conviction in the space ran deeper than daily price charts. The survey’s regulatory findings — overwhelming support for federal oversight of ICOs and enthusiasm for crypto ETFs — would prove remarkably predictive of the policy debates that dominated crypto headlines for years afterward.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results.
survey results like this showed how quickly sentiment can shift in crypto
ethereum overtaking bitcoin as top pick was bold even in a bear market
smart contract platforms eating bitcoins lunch was the bull case for eth