According to a new poll, almost half of retail investors in Russia believe that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) are a hedging asset that is linked to steady income.

Financial publication Financial Investment.com surveyed 1,000 Russian retail investors to find the most requested types of alternative investments.

According to a survey by Investor.com of 1,000 Russian retail investors, up to 46% of respondents view cryptocurrencies as a potentially defensive asset that allows them to hedge financial risks at this point in time.

Russian private investors prefer cryptocurrencies over real estate, as only 37% of respondents who invest in alternative real estate consider buying real estate to be an effective investment vehicle.

According to Anastasia Kosheleva, Russia boss at Investor.com, real estate used to be the most important insurance asset in Russia. She found that cryptocurrencies emerged as the biggest investment trend in 2021 as they outperform other traditional assets, including forex and stocks.

Among the many cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is clearly the Russians’ favorite alternative investment. According to a study by the big data platform Brand name Analytics, Bitcoin was the most popular cryptocurrency in Russia in October, outperforming coins like Tether (USDT) and Litecoin (LTC) in terms of mentions.

In recent years, cryptocurrencies have become increasingly popular with Russian investors, with 77% of Russian investors favoring Bitcoin over gold in a survey last year.

Last week, Russia’s central bank released a financial stability report that identified the country’s growing role in the global $ 2.8 trillion cryptocurrency market. The central bank mentioned that Russia ranks third in the world in terms of national BTC hash rate and is one of the largest users of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.

Related: Inflationary winds from around the world mark a big change for Bitcoin

Amid rising inflation and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, global investors are increasingly viewing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as a hedge against financial risk.

According to Damian Courvalin, head of energy research at Goldman Sachs, investors are increasingly protecting themselves against inflation by using cryptocurrencies in addition to traditional assets such as gold. “Just as we argue that silver is the poor man’s gold, gold can become the poor man’s cryptocurrency,” he said in mid-November.

Previously, Pendal Group’s Head of Alternative Term Strategy, Vimal Gor, argued that cryptocurrencies should be added to a new alternative defensive portfolio as government bonds have depreciated as a commodity.