Fed Survey: 12% of US Adults Held Crypto in 2021

Twelve percent of adults owned cryptocurrencies in 2021, according to a Federal Reserve study measuring the economic health of US consumers.

Released Monday, the annual survey of 11,000 people for the first time this year included questions on crypto ownership and adoption. This is the latest sign of the US central bank's growing interest in understanding how the booming crypto economy is blending (and not blending) into the picture.

The data collected indicate that American consumers have little interest in cryptocurrency as a currency. They are large investors, not operators, and only 3% of respondents said they paid for or sent cryptos the previous year. In contrast, 11 percent held cryptography as an investment.

These users "were disproportionately high income," the report stated: 46% of pure gambling investors made $100,000 or more. Most people had a bank account.

Of the 3 per cent who actually used cryptography for payments or transfers, 13 per cent had no bank account.