The Fed Reserve has released its annual study on Americans’ financial life, and it shows that they are more likely to utilize cryptocurrency as an investing tool than as a means of payment.
Fed Report Shows Booming Crypto Economy
The report, Economic Well-Being of US Households in 2021, is based on the Federal Reserve Board’s ninth annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, which was distributed in October and November of 2021. The subsequent study included data on cryptocurrency use for the first time.
According to the report, 12% adults held or used cryptocurrencies in 2021. According to the report, crypto is preferred as an investment tool over a transactional one, with only 2% of adults using it for purchases and 1% for sending money to friends or family.
The report noted that American consumers have little interest in cryptocurrency as a currency. They’re mostly investors, not traders, and only 3% of those polled claimed they’d paid in or sent cryptocurrency in the previous year. On the other hand, 11% had invested in cryptocurrency.
Pure-play investors made $100,000 or more in 46% of cases.
It was also reported that low-income persons were more inclined to use cryptocurrency for transactions. Thirteen percent of people who utilized cryptocurrency for these transactions did not have a typical bank account, and 27% did not have a credit card. Nearly six out of ten persons who use cryptocurrency for transactions earn less than $50,000, while only 24% earn more than $100,000.
Cryptocurrency Helps The Unbanked
According to the survey, 6% of the population in the United States is unbanked, with black (13%) and Hispanic (11%) individuals having fewer bank accounts than the general adult population.
Cryptocurrencies, according to proponents, provide a relatively easy way for disenfranchised and unbanked communities to access sophisticated payment systems. Even in countries with sophisticated banking sectors, such as the United States, the Fed research may support that notion.
In 2020 and 2021, a bull run saw the price of Bitcoin rise from $3,000 to $69,000, igniting widespread interest in cryptocurrencies.
