The number of Americans owning cryptocurrencies nearly doubled in 2019 compared to 2018, according to a survey by Australia-based financial services firm Finder.
The survey of 2,068 people showed that about 14.4 percent own one or more forms of cryptocurrency this year compared to around 7.9 percent in 2018. If the sample was representative of the entire U.S. population, 36.5 million Americans would own some form of crypto.
The average holding stood at $5,447 although three-quarters of the respondents actually held less than that, with a median of just $360.
Most of the people surveyed said that investment was the main reason for buying cryptocurrency. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents claimed to own digital currencies as an investment while the rest said it was for transactional purposes.
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Nearly twice as many men own cryptocurrencies as women.
Investors in cryptocurrencies seem to have a wandering eye, with those invested in bitcoin also owning other types of digital currency, hence the term crypto polygamists.
Lack of ease of use was the main reason that kept some would-be crypto investors from buying them in 2019. Some said that digital assets were “too complicated or difficult to understand”.
Other research conducted by Nobl Insurance in May, indicated that almost 25 million Americans have plans to buy cryptocurrencies in the next 12 months.
