Cryptocurrency markets continue to face challenges. The currency’s value has dropped, lawsuits are mounting and Congress is mulling regulations. Meanwhile, Americans remain skeptical about cryptocurrency, and the share who’ve used it has not grown in the past three years, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 7-11.
Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand Americans’ views of and personal experiences with cryptocurrency. It mainly draws from a Center survey of 10,133 adults from Feb. 7 to 11, 2024.
Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.
The 2024 survey includes responses from 651 Asian adults. The sample primarily includes 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 analysis.
Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with the responses, and its methodology.
Roughly six-in-ten Americans (63%) say they have little to no confidence that current ways to invest in, trade or use cryptocurrencies are reliable and safe. This includes three-in-ten adults who say they are not at all confident, and a third who say they are not very confident.
Just 5% of adults are extremely or very confident in cryptocurrencies, and 18% are somewhat confident.
These findings are largely similar to what the Center found in March 2023.
By age and previous investments
Some groups of Americans are more concerned than others about cryptocurrency. For instance, adults ages 50 and older are more likely than younger adults to say they are not very or not at all confident in its reliability and safety (71% vs. 55%).
There are also differences based on whether people have personally invested in cryptocurrency. Among those who are familiar with but have not invested in it, 82% say they are not very or not at all confident in it. That compares with 39% among those who have invested in cryptocurrency.
On the other hand, 19% of adults who have invested in cryptocurrency say they are extremely or very confident in its reliability and safety.
Who uses cryptocurrency?
Overall, 17% of U.S. adults say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency. This share is statistically unchanged since 2021.
By age and gender
As was true in past surveys, men under 50 are more likely than both men 50 and older and women of all ages to have ever used cryptocurrency. For example:
- 42% of men ages 18 to 29 say they have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency, compared with 17% of women in the same age range.
- 36% of men ages 30 to 49 have done this, compared with 15% of women in this age group.
By race and ethnicity
Cryptocurrency use also differs by race and ethnicity. Among Asian adults, 28% say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency. About one-in-five Black and Hispanic adults say the same. White adults (14%) are least likely to say they have used crypto.
By income
Among adults in upper-income households, 23% have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency. This share decreases to 18% among middle-income Americans and further to 14% among those with lower incomes.
By party
Use of cryptocurrency is statistically equal between Republicans and Democrats. Roughly two-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (18%) and Democrats and Democratic leaners (17%) say they have invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency.
Some past cryptocurrency users no longer have it
While only a minority of Americans have invested in cryptocurrency, a majority of those who have done so still have it.
Among those who have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency:
- 61% say they currently have cryptocurrency, which is down from 69% in 2023.
- 39% say they currently do not have any cryptocurrency, up from 31% in 2023.
By income
Roughly half (51%) of adults in lower-income households who’ve used cryptocurrency say they no longer have any, outpacing those in middle-income (32%) or upper-income (36%) households who say the same.
These shares are similar to those measured in 2023. The only significant change is among upper-income cryptocurrency users: 36% have given up the currency, an increase from 21% in 2023.
Cryptocurrency investments and personal finances
The financial impact of cryptocurrency is still a concern for many users. When asked about their own investments, the largest shares say they’ve done worse (38%) or about as expected (37%). In comparison, 20% say their investments have done better than expected and 4% are unsure.
In 2023, a slightly larger share (45%) said their cryptocurrency investments had done worse than expected. Still, most users said in 2023 that these investments had not impacted their finances:
- 60% said in 2023 that their investments had neither helped nor hurt their personal finances.
- 20% said these investments had helped their finances at least a little.
- 19% said they’d hurt their finances at least a little.
College graduates (25%) and those with some college experience (20%) were more likely than those with a high school education or less (10%) to say their cryptocurrency investments had hurt their personal finances in 2023.
When did Americans start using cryptocurrency?
We also asked Americans in 2023 when they first used cryptocurrency. About three-quarters (74%) said they did so for the first time one to five years earlier. Smaller shares said they first did this within the previous year (16%) or more than five years ago (10%).
By race and ethnicity, income
In 2023, Black users (27%) were more likely than White users (12%) to say they first invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency within the previous year. Roughly two-in-ten Hispanic users (21%) said the same. (There were not enough Asian American cryptocurrency users to look at their responses separately.)
In addition, cryptocurrency users living in lower-income households were particularly likely to have first invested in it during the previous year. About three-in-ten users from lower-income households reported first investing in cryptocurrency within the past year, compared with about one-in-ten adults from middle- or upper-income households.
Note: This is an update of a post originally published on April 10, 2023. Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with the responses, and its methodology.
