75% of those who have heard of crypto are not sure about its security, reliability| Pew Research Center
Cryptocurrency markets are taking hits from all sides – from devaluations to multiple corporate bankruptcies to lawsuits and regulatory threats. Among the vast majority of Americans who say they have heard at least a little about cryptocurrency (88%), three-quarters say they are not confident that current ways to invest in, trade or use cryptocurrency are reliable and safe, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted 13.-19. March. This comes out to about two-thirds of all American adults.
About four in ten adults who have heard of cryptocurrency (39%) say they are not sure at all, and another 36% are not very sure about the reliability and safety of cryptocurrencies. At the other end of the spectrum, few of these adults are extremely (2%) or very (4%) confident in cryptocurrencies. About one in five (18%) say they are somewhat confident.
While concern about cryptocurrency is widespread, some groups of Americans are more worried than others. For example, adults aged 50 and older who have heard of cryptocurrency are more likely than their younger counterparts to say they are unsure about its reliability and safety (85% vs. 66%).
The Pew Research Center conducted this study to examine Americans’ views and personal experiences with cryptocurrency. This survey was conducted among 10,701 American adults from March 13 to 19, 2023. All participants are members of the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel recruited through a national random sampling of residential addresses. This way, almost every American adult has a chance to choose. The survey is weighted to be representative of the US adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, party affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about ATP’s methodology. Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with the answers and its methodology.
This survey includes a total sample size of 375 Asian adults. The sample includes primarily English-speaking Asian Americans and therefore may not be representative of the overall Asian adult population. Despite this limitation, Asian adults’ responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout this report.
Women are also slightly more skeptical about investing in, trading or using cryptocurrencies. Among Americans who have heard of cryptocurrency, 80% of women say they are unsure about it, compared to 71% of men.
Attitudes also differ based on whether someone has invested in cryptocurrency. While one in five cryptocurrency users say they are extremely or very confident that it is safe and reliable, the share drops to 2% among those who are familiar with cryptocurrency but have not invested. Nevertheless, many who have invested in cryptocurrency also have concerns about its security: 43% of this group say they are not very or not confident about it.
Who Uses Cryptocurrency in the US?
Overall, 17% of US adults say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency. This proportion is largely unchanged from previous Center surveys carried out in 2021 and 2022.
As was true in previous surveys, younger men are more likely to use cryptocurrency compared to men 50 and older and women of all ages. For example, 41% of men aged 18 to 29 say they have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency, compared to 16% of women in the same age group.
Cryptocurrency use also varies by race, ethnicity, and income level. About 24% of Asian adults and 21% of black or Hispanic adults say they have ever invested in or used a cryptocurrency, compared to 14% of white adults.
About one in five adults with higher (22%) or middle (19%) incomes have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency, compared to 13% of those with lower incomes.
Few cryptocurrency users used it only in the last year
The survey also asked Americans when they first used cryptocurrency. About three-quarters of those who have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency (74%) say they did so for the first time one to five years ago. Much smaller stocks say they first did this within the past year (16%) or more than five years ago (10%).
There are differences by race, ethnicity, and household income among recent cryptocurrency investors. Black users (27%) are more likely than white users (12%) to say they first used cryptocurrency in the past year. About two in ten Latin American users (21%) say the same. (There weren’t enough Asian-American cryptocurrency users to be split out in a separate analysis.) And about three in 10 users from lower-income households report first investing in cryptocurrency in the past year, compared to about one in ten users from households with a lower income. adults from middle or upper income households.
Some former cryptocurrency users no longer have it today
About three in ten adults (31%) who have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency say they do not currently hold any cryptocurrency. Still, a majority (69%) say they currently hold cryptocurrency.
Those living in lower income households (43%) are more likely than those in middle (30%) or upper income households (21%) to have given up cryptocurrency. And women who have ever used cryptocurrency are more likely than men in this same group to say they don’t currently have any of the currency (37% vs. 29%).
About one in five cryptocurrency users say their investments have hurt their personal finances at least a little
A majority of cryptocurrency users (45%) report that their investments have performed worse than they expected, a result that is statistically unchanged since July 2022, when the Center last asked about this. In comparison, 15% say their investments have performed better than expected, 32% say they have done about the same as expected and 7% are unsure.
But when it comes to the effect these investments have had on users’ personal finances, three out of five users (60%) say they have neither helped nor harmed. About equal shares say these investments have helped (20%) or hurt (19%) their finances. Only 7% say cryptocurrency has helped their finances a lot and 3% say it has hurt a lot.
College graduates (25%) and those with some college experience (20%) are more likely than those with a high school education or less (10%) to say their cryptocurrency investments are hurting their personal finances.
Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with the answers and its methodology.
Michelle Faverio is a research analyst focusing on internet and technology research at the Pew Research Center.
