At least 88% of U.S. adults have heard about cryptocurrencies, and three-quarters of them say they don't trust their safety and reliability, Pew Research finds
Almost 90% of U.S. adults have heard something about cryptocurrencies, but most aren't confident that ways to invest, trade, or use it are reliable and safe, according to a Pew Research Center survey published Monday.
The survey was conducted between March 13-19, around the time that Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank, both crypto-friendly banks, collapsed or were being wound down. It was also around the time that bitcoin prices had soared.
Crypto has seen a rough several months, from multiple corporate bankruptcies like the FTX crypto exchange, to lawsuits against crypto giants like Binance, and frequent regulatory threats from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Few adults from the Pew Research survey said they were extremely (2%) or very confident (4%) in cryptocurrencies. Older U.S. adults, aged 50 and above who knew about crypto, were more likely than younger people to say they weren't confident in crypto's reliability and safety. Differences also emerged in gender groups, with 41% of men between the age of 18 to 29 saying they have invested, traded or used cryptocurrency, compared with 16% of women in the same age group.
Overall, 17% of U.S. adults said they had invested in, traded, or used crypto in the past, which was mostly unchanged from previous surveys conducted by the Pew Research team in 2021 and 2022.
These numbers were similar to those reflected in a JPMorgan Chase & Co. survey that came out in February, in which 72% of institutional traders said they had no plans on trading cryptocurrency in 2023, and 14% said they would in the next five years.
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