Fed Data Shows Most Crypto Holders Locked Into 2022 Bear Market

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10% of US adults owned or used crypto assets last year, down just 2 percentage points from 2021.

The majority of US-based crypto holders who were active during the dizzying highs of the 2021 bull market stayed for the 2022 downtrend.

The US Federal Reserve’s report on the economic well-being of US households in 2022 indicates that 10% of US adults held or used crypto assets in 2022, down just 2 percentage points from the previous year.

2022 will be remembered for the collapse of Terra and its ecosystem, numerous multi-billion dollar CeFi insolvencies, and a challenging macroeconomic climate characterized by rising interest rates. But despite all the recent market turmoil, the share of American adults using cryptocurrency has only slipped slightly year-over-year.

Meanwhile, investment fervor has slowed, with 8% of users saying they bought crypto as an investment, down from 11% the year before. Only 2% of adults said they had used crypto for payments and purchases in both years.

Demographic distribution

The largest share of crypto users were aged 30-44 at 15%, followed by 14% of adults aged 18-29 who used crypto, 10% of respondents aged 45-59 and only 3% aged 60 or over. .

However, 18-29 year olds represented the smallest age bracket analyzed by the Fed, indicating that crypto adoption is still heavily skewed towards younger users.

Men were twice as likely to use crypto with 14% of respondents compared to 7% of women.

Survey respondents said they use cryptocurrency to access better privacy in settlement speeds when transacting.

Unbanked populations

The data also shows that those who are unbanked and in a lower income bracket rely on crypto more for non-investment related transactions than those with higher income and access to banking services.

According to the report, 5% of unbanked adults have used cryptocurrency for financial transactions, compared to 3% among banked adults, and 4% of respondents with an annual household income of less than $25,000 said they use crypto. for financial transactions, twice as much as any other. demographic income.

The use of cryptocurrency for financial transactions was more common among the unbanked, as well as those who used non-bank check cashing and money orders, according to the report.

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