An extensive survey of nearly 5,000 cryptocurrency holders spanning 17 European countries has found that one in five cryptocurrency investors are women, signaling greater diversity within the virtual currency sector than previously presumed.

Bitpanda commissioned GlobalWebIndex to produce the sample, which identified 4,950 European cryptocurrency holders among 119,107 European participants in total. The survey participants hailed from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

London and Switzerland Host Highest Concentration of Crypto Owners

The report found that approximately 4% of European internet users hold cryptocurrency – comprising the least common of the nine forms of investment tracked by GlobalWebIndex. The survey found that one in five crypto investors are women, and that 40% of crypto owners are over the age of 35.

The survey further found that the country of Switzerland has the highest rate of crypto ownership both regionally and globally. Despite the United Kingdom ranking 11th by the number of cryptocurrency investors, the city of London was found to have the highest concentration of cryptocurrency ownership in the world – nearly three times the European average.

The most common demographic profile of a cryptocurrency investor was found to comprise “a young, highly educated, high-income man working full-time or as a freelancer in a major European financial center.” However, said profile accounts for just one in 25 of European cryptocurrencies, indicating significant diversity within the cryptocurrency community.

Most Cryptocurrency Holders Made Other Investments Before Buying Crypto

Broadly, 21% of crypto investors were found 25-34 year-olds within the top 10% income group – with said group found to be five times as likely as the average internet user to own cryptocurrency. Despite the survey finding that crypto holder is much more likely to possess a university degree,  54% of European cryptocurrency investors were found not have completed tertiary education.

Crypto investors are also much more risk-tolerant than the average European internet user, and more than twice as likely to have visited an online gambling or betting service during the last month.

The report found that cryptocurrency is rarely the first investment made by most investors, with crypto holders found to be twice as likely to have also invested in gold, blonds, or shares.