GRE Mini Quiz 3

The extreme volatility and fly-by-night nature of many cryptocurrencies _________ mass adoption, even if some of their fundamentals are _________; if they continue to engender public distrust, cryptocurrencies will remain _________ investment.

Two of the options for the first blank are skirt and preclude, which mean avoid and prevent respectively. Dont they both fit the blank perfectly?

I think “skirt” is generally an action done by an individual to avoid something intentionally in a negative way, so it might not fit here