A large percentage of US adults believe cryptocurrencies lack security and reliability, according to a new Pew Research Center study.
The Pew Research Center conducted the survey from March 13th-19th by asking questions to 10,701 US adults who are members of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel recruited through a random sampling of residential addresses.
The study finds that 39% of adults who have heard about cryptocurrency are not at all confident in the reliability and safety of digital assets, while an additional 36% are not very confident.
On the other end of the spectrum, only 2% of adults are extremely confident in cryptocurrencies, while 4% are very confident in crypto, per the study. About 18% say they are somewhat confident.
The study also finds that attitudes about cryptocurrencies differ widely based on demographics.
“While concern about cryptocurrency is broad, some groups of Americans are more concerned than others. For instance, adults ages 50 and older who have heard about cryptocurrency are more likely than their younger counterparts to say they are not confident in its reliability and safety (85% vs. 66%).
Women are also slightly more skeptical of investing in, trading or using cryptocurrencies. Among Americans who have heard about cryptocurrency, 80% of women say they are not confident in it, compared with 71% of men.”
US adults who use, trade or invest in crypto have remained mostly unchanged at 17% when compared to the previous studies conducted by Pew Research Center in 2021 and 2022.
The study also reveals that nearly a third of respondents who held digital assets before got out of the crypto markets.
“Roughly three-in-ten adults (31%) who have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency say they currently do not have any cryptocurrency. Still, a majority (69%) say they do currently have cryptocurrency.”
Lastly, the survey finds that nearly half of crypto investors say that their portfolios have performed worse than expected.
“A plurality of cryptocurrency users (45%) report that their investments have performed worse than they expected, a result that is statistically unchanged since July 2022, when the Center last asked about this. In comparison, 15% say their investments have done better than expected, 32% say they have done about the same as expected and 7% are unsure.”
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