With industry conversations around Web3 gaining momentum, 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, took a deep dive into cryptocurrency as part of its VoCUL: Connected Customer, Disruptive Technologies 2022 survey. The overarching takeaway? It’s still early days for consumer cryptocurrency adoption in the US, with uptake varying widely by demographic. Overall, 20% of respondents indicated that they have either bought, traded or received cryptocurrencies. The most robust adoption was seen with Gen Z (33%) and Millennials (35%), trailing off into the single digits for Baby Boomers and The Greatest Generation.
Cryptocurrency activity skews toward younger generations
451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence
When exploring the specific activities that cryptocurrency participants have engaged in, the message is clear: While most have bought cryptocurrencies (64%), a much smaller percentage are selling them (33%), and an even smaller percentage are using cryptocurrency as a payment method (19%). Essentially, most consumers that are engaging with cryptocurrency are treating it as an asset, much like they would a security (e.g., a stock).
Based on this finding, we’ve concluded that most consumers that have bought cryptocurrency have never moved their coins outside of the exchange where they purchased them (e.g., Coinbase
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Consistent with our findings that considerably more users have bought cryptocurrency than used it as a payment method, the common theme driving adoption is investment. More than one-third (36%) who trade cryptocurrency do so as a general investment to increase their wealth, 27% do so to diversify their investment…
