A recent study found that most Americans have had “some exposure” to the concept of cryptocurrency, and noted that despite this most investors are predominantly wealthy male millennials.
The survey was conducted by blockchain-focused company Clovr through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. It surveyed 1,004 Americans aged 18 to 80, and found 76% know what a cryptocurrency is, and 21% “sort of” know. Only 3% said they didn’t know.
These results show that cryptocurrencies are expanding in the country, as in September of this year a survey that questioned 1,202 US citizens found that 79% were aware of cryptocurrencies.
In Clovr’s suvey, when asked if they would feel comfortable explaining what a cryptocurrency is to someone else 62% said yes, while 38% said no. As for how they feel about the cryptocurrency market, nearly 70% of respondents expressed uncertainty, while 32.8% expressed confusion.
These responses were followed by excitement and anticipation. These results were likely caused by last year’s bull run, which saw most cryptocurrencies hit new all-time highs, with bitcoin coming close to $20,000 in mid-December.
Since then, the flagship cryptocurrency dropped to a year to date low below $6,000, but has since recovered to about $6,600. Over last 12 months, the cryptocurrency is still up by about 52%, according to CryptoCompare data.
As for reasons to invest, 51.6% of respondents claimed the top reason would be the “possibility of [a] huge return on investment,” while 42.6% “believe it’s the currency of the future.” Other predominant motives included “people I know are doing it,” and “fear of missing out.” As the report notes, fear of missing out (FOMO) can be associated with other responses. It reads:
Almost 40 percent of everyone we surveyed cited “people I know were doing it” as a top reason for investing. This type of peer pressure could also be tied to the FOMO, “Fear of Missing Out,” that over 35 percent of respondents expressed as a leading reason for dabbling in the ever-growing cryptocurrency market.
Notably, 58.1% claimed they wouldn’t invest in cryptocurrency because they deem it “too risky,” while 48% claimed they “don’t know enough about it.” Other motives not to invest include believing the government will eventually intervene in the market, or that it’s all “too good to be true.”
Those who do invest, per the study’s findings, are predominantly men as 43% of male respondents claim to have invested in cryptocurrencies before, while only 23% of women did.
Clovr’s survey saw 41% of millennials note they have invested, against 24% of those from Generation X and 18% of Baby Boomers. Most of those who invest claimed to have an annual income between $75,000 and $99,999.
As CryptoGlobe covered, a survey conducted by consultant Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2018 had earlier this year revealed wealthy millennials are interested in crypto. It’s worth noting that back in August, a survey conducted by analytics firm Harris Insights found that 41% of Americans weren’t interested in investing in cryptocurrencies, and claimed “nothing” could get them to invest in the market.
