To what Extent does the Perception of Risk from Investments and Bitcoin Investments Differ? Insights From a Choice Experiment

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1.0, , language: English, abstract: Until the end of December 2018, Bitcoin was declared to be dead 338 times. Besides strong representation in media and public discussion, the cryptocurrency went through the ripple effect resulting in a peak of 19,871 $/BTC on December 17, 2017, followed by a dramatic devaluation resulting in a price of 3,896 $/BTC on December 31, 2018. The cryptocurrency is related to high volatility, strong herd behavior and bounded rationality. But to what extent does the perception of risk in investment’s context differ from Bitcoin and other investments? In the following paper, the technical implications and a brief historical development are provided in the second chapter. In the third chapter, the mainstream literature on investment behavior, risk aversion and measuring instruments for risk aversion is reviewed. In order to approach the research question, an online-survey among students is conducted which is presented in the fourth chapter and evaluated in the fifth chapter. In the last chapter, both the research method and the results are critically reflected and an outlook on future developments is given.