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Updated on Aug 22, 2023
Updates quarterly

Tracking Trends in Cryptocurrency

Despite industry volatility, crypto ownership holds relatively steady year over year.
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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

  • While legislative efforts regarding cryptocurrencies are underway, views on regulation have held stable. In July 2023, about a quarter of U.S. adults said they think cryptocurrency should be more regulated than other financial assets. In comparison, a slightly lower 22% think it should be regulated similarly to assets like investments and securities, relatively consistent with the 25% who said the same in July 2022. With a congressional bill on regulating cryptocurrencies like securities in progress, it looks like both groups will get a bit of what they want.

  • Trust and intent to purchase crypto remain stable despite industry volatility. Trust in cryptocurrency has held steady at about 30% for the last three quarters. Purchase intention is also stable, with 24% U.S. adults saying they plan to purchase crypto in the next month. Crypto owners have remained committed to their assets in the wake of mixed news for the industry, like the Ripple Labs v. SEC ruling and the downsizing of more crypto companies.

  • The crypto ownership gap between women and men remains. Fewer women than men own cryptocurrency overall: only 12% of women own crypto compared to more than twice that, 25%, of men. Bitcoin is the most popular coin among women and men, with 8% and 20% saying they own it, respectively.

Cryptocurrency Ownership

Share of respondents who said they own each:
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Bitcoin Ownership

Shares of each who said they own bitcoin:
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Reported Cryptocurrency Sales

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

Share of respondents who said they are likely to purchase the following in the next month:
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Share of respondents who said they are very or somewhat familiar with the following:
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Respondents who had heard of a given topic were asked how much they trust it (net trust)
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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
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Opinion on Cryptocurrencies’ Impact on Society

Share of respondents who agree with each statement:
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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.”

Source of This Data

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.