Bitcoin and crypto remain popular: One in five US consumers use Bitcoin or NFTs; Celebrity fans, Big University Gain
People didn’t reject Bitcoin and other digital assets during the first wave of the crypto winter. According to a study by S&P Global Market Intelligence in March, one in five consumers bought or sold Bitcoin when markets crashed early this year.
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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies began another descent in April, and the study does not cover that period.
But a recent survey in October shows that younger investors see crypto as a solid retirement option. Around 45% of younger investors invest in cryptocurrencies.
Collective market crash brought crypto values down in 2020 and again this year. But it was the 2008 crash that got people thinking about using crypto as an alternative in the first place. That means market crashes can lead to unexpected outcomes for crypto.
Bitcoin launched one year after the financial crisis, in 2009, while ethereum followed in 2015. Altcoins surged after ethereum’s launch with over 15,000 coins available today.
Bitcoin and crypto usage grew in the crypto winter
In March of this year, S&P Global Market Intelligence surveyed millennials, sports bettors and students – a total of 2,519 adults. The finding shows that all three demographic groups used cryptos and NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
The findings, called Kagan US Consumer Insights, showed that a whopping 72% of people with a gaming console owned Bitcoin or other digital coins. A higher 84% held non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
Digital asset traders were also big on betting. While only 20% of regular sports fans in the group bet on a live game, over three times as many, or 62%, of crypto traders had bet on games.
Among millennials, exactly half of those between the ages of 25 and 41 held crypto, while nearly 60% held NFTs.
Among university students, 45% held Bitcoin and crypto and 55% NFTs.
Sports bettors who were also crypto traders likely joined the wave of spending money as a hobby through NFT purchases, according to the finding. NFT buyers were the biggest gainers at 81%.
But sports NFTs also build fandom and provide new ways of financing. Platforms like FANtium allow people to buy NFTs to fund athletes through playing seasons without a middleman or agency. In October, the platform raised 2 million euros that allowed fans to invest in athletes.
Crypto for wealth generation
Aside from sports betting that favors Bitcoin and crypto, the Kagan study group included millennials and college students for whom wealth creation is a growing concern as inflation erodes purchasing power.
Millennials trail previous generations in wealth creation, according to a St. Louis Fed survey. Flush with cash from recent loose monetary policy and faced with a wealth gap, millennials are turning to crypto, Fed study found. They quickly make up for a 40% deficit in generational wealth in the process.
For students, crypto can become a way of life. UPenn’s Wharton Business School accepts tuition payments in Bitcoin and other crypto for some of its programs. Private colleges like Bentley accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the stablecoin USD coin, which is pegged to the US dollar, for tuition. The University of California at Berkeley accepts Bitcoin donations.
Mobile wallets such as Venmo, Apple Pay and PayPal – which are very popular among teenagers and young adults – already allow crypto transactions.
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