IU Incubator
Crypto Expert Survey

Project Description

The Crypto Expert Survey is a Europe-wide research project that provides a high-quality empirical basis for academic research on expectation formation in the crypto sector. Under the scientific direction of Prof. Dr. David Florysiak (IU International University of Applied Sciences), the project closes the existing gap in data collection by establishing a regular survey of crypto experts in various European countries. The survey is based on proven methods of established economic surveys such as the ZEW Financial Market Survey, the ifo Institute surveys, the CFO Survey (Duke University), or the Survey of Business Uncertainty (Atlanta Fed), while at the same time being adapted to the specific characteristics of the crypto industry and the respective national framework conditions. Local partner institutions – universities, media organizations, or industry associations – are responsible for panel recruitment and conducting the survey in their countries; IU aggregates and harmonizes the data centrally.

The aim of the project is to generate comparable research data across Europe through regular surveys and to derive both aggregated European as well as country-specific indicators:

Crypto Business Climate Index Europe, as well as national Crypto Business Climate Indices (e.g., DACH, Cyprus)
Crypto Optimism Index Europe, as well as national Crypto Optimism Indices
Crypto Market Expectations Indices Europe, as well as national Crypto Market Expectations Indices

These indicators reflect sentiment and expectations within the industry and market and will be made publicly available to support decision-makers in business, politics, and regulation.

The Crypto Expert Survey serves as an umbrella brand under which all national sub-studies are conducted.

Participants:
Region: DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
Partner Institution: BTC-ECHO (https://www.btc-echo.de)
Since: 09/2024

Results (as of 07/07/2025):

Indices	Q4-2024	Q1-2025	Q2-2025	Q3-2025	Q4-2025
BTC-1M-Kurserwartungs-Index (USD)	67.960,3	106.582,22	81.439,64	111.166,67	129.196,08
BTC-6M-Kurserwartungs-Index (USD)	85.133,16	124.400,00	98.121,21	130.421,05	136.460,78
BTC-1M-Volatilitäts-Index (Punkte)	16,22	17,19	14,96	12,30	15,8
BTC-6M-Volatilitäts-Index (Punkte)	40,68	35,08	29,68	26,45	28,4
Krypto-Geschäftsklima-Index (Aktuelle Lage, Punkte)	31,1	56,0	6,15	47,4	66,7
Krypto-Geschäftsklima-Index (Erwartung über 6 Monate, Punkte)	71,1	68,0	35,38	66,1	60.8
Krypto-Optimismus-Index (Punkte)	77,4	77,2	69,2	76,8	79,0

Region: Cyprus
Partner Institution: University of Limassol (https://www.uol.ac.cy)
Since: 08/2025

Duration of the project

01.02.2025 – 31.01.2027

Further information

Prof. Dr. David Florysiak
Professor of FinTech

David Florysiak is a Professor of FinTech at IU International University of Applied Sciences. His research interests center around many aspects of decentralized finance, a token-based economy, and how quantum computing will transform financial services. He has published on topics such as the regulation of crypto-assets under the European MiCA regulation (Florysiak, 2024) or on measuring the information content of crypto-asset whitepapers using NLP methods (Florysiak and Schandlbauer, 2022).

Selected Publications:

Florysiak, D. (2024). Utility Tokens, Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR) and the Costs of Being Public. In H. Cronqvist & D.-J. Pely (Hrsg.), The Elgar Companion to Decentralized Finance, Digital Assets, and Blockchain Technologies (S. 113-126). Edward Elgar.
Florysiak, D., & Schandlbauer, A. (2022). Experts or Charlatans? ICO Analysts and White Paper Informativeness. Journal of Banking and Finance, 139, 106476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2022.106476

Sven Wagenknecht (DACH)
Industry Partner
Contact: sven.wagenknecht@btc-echo.de

Sven Wagenknecht is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of BTC-ECHO. He also advises public institutions such as the United Nations and the European Union on blockchain initiatives. As a board member of the Blockchain Working Group of the digital association Bitkom e.V., he advocates for the establishment of the token economy. After training as a bank clerk, Wagenknecht studied politics and economics in Münster and Barcelona.

Prof. Dr. Andrey Afanasiev (Cyprus)
Associate Professor of Finance and Risk Management
Contact: a.afanasiev@uol.ac.cy

Andrey Afanasiev, Director of the MSc in Financial Services, is an Associate Professor of Finance and Risk Management at UoL. He received his PhD in Mathematics from Steklov Institute of Mathematics and a PhD in Finance from the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Professor Afanasiev has more than 25 years of experience in international banking and risk management (Europe, Emerging Markets and the Gulf). His research and teaching interests are in the field of investments, financial and derivatives markets, stochastic finance, risk modelling methods, artificial intelligence and machine learning with applications in financial services.