One in three Britons owns a cryptocurrency

One in three Britons already owns a cryptocurrency.

Recently published an article describing how UK interest in cryptocurrencies has fallen by 82% this year.

However, we also mention that from all the data there is something positive to come out of it:

” (The data shows) that both cryptocurrency ownership and general awareness continue to increase, reflecting the fact that, despite the frightening price developments and recent drop in interest, cryptocurrencies continue to become more mainstream.”

This week’s article looks a bit more into this long-term growth, based on data from a study by VoucherCodes.co.uk. Fortunately, it’s a bit more positive than the previous one.

More than a third of Brits own a cryptocurrency

34% of Britons already own a cryptocurrency, a statistic that really surprises me.

This, perhaps more than anything else, shows how entrenched cryptocurrency is in the financial markets.

This was undoubtedly helped by the effect of the pandemic, when millions of people were confined to their homes and their hobbies, social activities and travel were cancelled. With this came an abundance of free time, and with the money printing press turned on and asset prices soaring, the public flocked to cryptocurrencies.

Another big boost is the ease with which one can now invest. Coinbase is now a publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange, which would have been unbelievable to predict not so long ago.

But there are also a myriad of other ways for Brits to get their cryptocurrency. Apps like Revolut, eToro and many others have made buying Bitcoin with a flick of a finger easier than ever.

Gender breakdown.

One of the unfortunate things about cryptocurrencies is the absolute dominance of men in the space.

This study shows that 41% of British men own a cryptocurrency, compared to 27% of women. Honestly, this is much higher than I expected, and the 27% figure is well above other studies.

I have scanned from a study conducted earlier this year on the gender breakdown across countries. This revealed that 35% of cryptocurrency investors worldwide are women, which is overall higher than the 26% observed in the global investment universe.

The study showed that 35% of investors in the UK were women, with the exception of France, which topped the list of developed countries with 45% women.

Interestingly, developing countries were also found to be much more gender balanced, with Israel, Indonesia and Nigeria even having more women investors than men. This may be because there are fewer options for women to pursue financial independence in the developing world.

Cryptocurrency market still has room to grow

Although a considerable portion of the country spends on buying cryptocurrencies, the majority (66%) have not yet invested.

Going even further, 48% know next to nothing about cryptocurrencies. Seems like a disappointing statistic, but to me it shows how big the potential market is.

It is undeniable that cryptocurrencies have entered the mainstream in recent years, but since half of the population still knows nothing about them, there is a lot of market share left to capture.

Conclusion

Overall, it has clearly been a disastrous year for cryptocurrencies.

But statistics like the one showing that 34% of Britons own cryptocurrencies show how much is changing. Although the gender gap has not yet closed and almost half the population knows nothing about crypto – and prices are falling – there are still positive readings here compared to a few years ago.

Sources

VoucherCodes.co.uk