At least 16% of Americans already own cryptocurrency

A poll published Thursday by the Pew Research Center found that approximately 16% of Americans have invested, traded, or used in cryptocurrencies. This number rises to 31% for the 18-29 year olds and even to 43% for certain men of the same age group. Black, Hispanic, and Asian individuals who participated in the study were also more likely to invest in crypto than those who identified as white. There doesn’t seem to be any income gap.

Pew Research analyst Andrew Perrin said:

“We can now see that the majority of the American public has heard at least a little bit about cryptocurrencies. It is impressive to see that there are demographic differences in terms of crypto awareness and usage. ”

The survey sample included 10,371 adults selected from the centre’s US trend table. The panel was selected by selecting random addresses across the country and then weighting them on a range of factors such as race, political affiliation, gender, and education.

Panel members were also asked whether they had heard of cryptocurrencies before. Almost a quarter of respondents (24%) say they have heard a lot about cryptocurrencies, while almost two-thirds (62%) say they have heard. Around one in eight (13%) has never heard of cryptocurrencies. There are also some race, gender, age, and income differences in the skimming tables for this question.

Asian Americans are by far the most likely (43%) to say they know a lot about cryptocurrencies. All other ethnic groups said between 25 and 29%. While the rate of crypto investments did not differ between income brackets, the percentage of respondents who said they had a high level of knowledge about cryptocurrencies increased in proportion to income. Just like with crypto investment rates, there is a strong correlation between teens and men when it comes to self-reported crypto knowledge.

In 2015, Pew conducted a survey that asked similar (if not quite the same) questions about Bitcoin rather than about cryptocurrency as a whole. Back then the results were completely different. Only 1% of respondents said they had invested in Bitcoin themselves, and only 48% had even heard of Bitcoin. Respondents who have heard of Bitcoin prefer high-income white men with college degrees.