Updated: 
Apr 25, 2023
Updates quarterly

Tracking Trends in Cryptocurrency

Despite industry volatility, crypto ownership ticked up in April

Cryptocurrency and its underlying technology stand to fundamentally alter the financial services industry, particularly the way consumers manage their finances and transact with one another. Or it could all be just a passing fad. The speed of cryptocurrency’s adoption and the uncertainty about its future mean it is imperative that financial services leaders track its developments.

The methodology for the tracker is included at the bottom of this page.

Key Takeaways

  • Amid bank failures and industry uncertainty, cryptocurrency ownership has ticked up since last year. One month since the failures of three U.S. banks, including the crypto-heavy Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital, crypto ownership is at 22% among U.S. adults. This is a substantial 4-percentage-point increase in ownership from April 2022.

  • Though overall ownership is up, many also sold crypto in the last month. Amid volatile pricing in the past month, many sold bitcoin to cash in on a mid-March price jump. Nearly half (46%) of crypto owners reported selling bitcoin in the past month, up from 27% in April 2022. Sales of ethereum have more than doubled year over year (from 16% to 33%), and sales of binance coin have more than tripled (from 10% to 34%).

  • Crypto bank failures did not dent trust in cryptocurrency, but they did spur desire for more regulation. Although still a minority, the share of U.S. adults who said they trust cryptocurrency (31%) did not change much as a result of major events in the crypto industry in early March. The share of adults who believe cryptocurrency should be regulated more than other financial assets, however, has been on an upward swing over the past year, rising from 19% in April 2022 to 29% this month.

Cryptocurrency Ownership

Share of respondents who said they own each:

Bitcoin Ownership

Shares of each who said they own bitcoin:

Reported Cryptocurrency Sales

Share of cryptocurrency owners who said they sold any of the following in the last month:

Anticipated Cryptocurrency Purchases

Share of respondents who said they are likely to purchase the following in the next month:
Share of respondents who said they are very or somewhat familiar with the following:
Respondents who had heard of a given topic were asked how much they trust it (net trust)
Net trust is defined as the share of U.S. adults who said they trust each “a lot” or “some” minus the share who said “not much” or “not at all.”

Opinion on Cryptocurrency Regulation

Share of respondents who said cryptocurrency should be more, less or similarly regulated relative to financial assets such as securities and investment funds

Opinion on Cryptocurrencies’ Impact on Society

Share of respondents who agree with each statement:
Full text of response options: “Cryptocurrencies are mostly beneficial to society because they don’t rely on traditional financial institutions and can offer underserved populations greater access to wealth” and “Cryptocurrencies are mostly harmful to society because they don’t rely on traditional financial institutions and make it easier for criminals including terrorists to commit crimes.”

Methodology

This tracker relies on data collected quarterly through Morning Consult’s proprietary survey research capabilities. The interviews are conducted online, and the data are weighted to approximate a representative sample of U.S. adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race and region. Results from the full survey have a monthly sample size of 4,400 U.S. adults and an unweighted margin of error of +/- 1 percentage point.

In October 2022, Morning Consult changed the survey frequency of our Cryptocurrency Insights Hub. To request monthly data from January 2022 to August 2022, please reach out to [email protected].

About Morning Consult

Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with applied artificial intelligence to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act. Learn more at morningconsult.com.

Email [email protected] to speak with a member of the Morning Consult team.

The author would like to thank Charlotte Principato for her contributions to this research.

Caroline Smith
Manager, Financial Services

Caroline Smith is a manager of financial services intelligence at Morning Consult, where she analyzes high-frequency data to help the company deliver real-time insights to the financial services sector.