One in three Brits now own crypto

We published a piece recently outlining how British interest in cryptocurrency has fallen 82% this year.

We also mentioned, however, that there was a positive spin coming out of all the data:

“(The data shows) ownership of crypto and general awareness remains on the rise is testament to the fact that, despite the horrendous price action and recent dropoff in interest, crypto continues to move more into the mainstream”

This week’s piece dives a little more into that long-term growth – drawing upon data from a study by VoucherCodes.co.uk. Thankfully, it’s a little more positive than previous.

Over a third of British people own crypto

34% of Brits now own crypto, a statistic which really surprises me.

This, perhaps more than any other, shows the extent to which crypto has entrenched itself within financial markets.

Undoubtedly contributing towards this was the effect of the pandemic, when millions were locked up at home with their hobbies, socialising and commutes all cancelled. With that came an abundance of spare time, and with the money printer turned on and asset prices rocketing upwards, the public streamed into crypto.

Another big push is the ease at which people can now invest. Coinbase are now a publicly listed crypto exchange, something which would have been incredible to predict not so long ago.

But there are also myriad other ways which Brits can get their crypto. Apps like Revolut, eToro and the likes have made buying Bitcoin with the flick of a finger easier than ever.

Gender breakdown

One of the unfortunate things about crypto is the sheer dominance of males in the space.

This study comes in at 41% of UK males owning crypto, compared to 27% of females. Honestly, this is a lot higher than I would have anticipated, and the 27% figure is well north of some other studies.

I reported on a study earlier this year about gender breakdown in different countries. This found that 35% of crypto investors globally are female, which is overall stronger than the 26% seen across the global investment universe.

That study had UK investors as 35% female – short of France who led the way for developed nations with 45% female.

Interestingly, it also found that developing countries are much more gender-balanced, with Israel, Indonesia and Nigeria even containing more female crypto investors than males. This is possibly due to there being less diverse options for women to pursue financial independence in the developing world.

Crypto market still has room to grow

Whilst a considerable proportion of the nation is spending on crypto, the majority (66%) have not yet invested.

Going even further, 48% know next to nothing about crypto. That seems like a disappointing statistic, but to me it shows how much bigger the potential market is.

Crypto has undeniably moved into the mainstream over the last few years, but with half the population still knowning nothing about it, there is a hell of a lot more market share to capture.

Conclusion

Overall, it has obviously been a disastrous year for crypto.

But statistics like 34% of Brits owning crypto shows how far it has come. While the gender gap still needs to be closed, and nearly half the population knows nothing about what crypto is – and prices are in the drain – there is still some positive reading here when compared to a few years ago.