The highly regarded American Trends Panel also found that the vast majority of Americans know at least "a little" about crypto, and 16% have owned or used it.
Crypto may be overwhelmingly young and male, but is no longer overwhelmingly white.
It is, however, mainstream: 86% of American adults say they have heard at least "a little" about crypto.
That's according to a new report from the highly regarded Pew Research Center, which surveyed more than 10,000 U.S. adults in September for its ongoing American Trends Panel research.
In a November 11 report, Pew noted that in the U.S., white adults were substantially less likely than Asian, black, or Hispanic panelists to have invested in, traded or used cryptocurrencies, with just 13% buying or using cryptocurrencies.
Asian-Americans were the top crypto demographic with 23%, followed by Hispanics at 21%, and black investors at 18%.
That contrasts starkly with a year-old survey of 3,000 investors and "crypto-curious" consumers by the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, led by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
In its 2021 State of U.S. Crypto Report — conducted in October and November 2020 — Gemini found that 71% of the then-current crypto owners were white, compared with 10% Asian, 13% Hispanic, and 9% black.
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Going Mainstream
Overall, the survey shows that crypto has fully penetrated the mainstream. Of the 86% of American adults who know something about crypto, 24% saying they know "a lot" about it, and 16% say they have invested in, traded, or used a cryptocurrency.
Notably, Gemini's survey found that 14% of its 2020 respondents owned cryptocurrencies — matching Pew's 2021 results fairly closely.
Pew also found that interest in crypto seems to have spread equally across all income levels, with 17% of middle and upper-income panelists investing in, trading or using cryptocurrencies. For lower income respondents, that was 15%.
"These findings emerge as government leaders and others debate the regulation of cryptocurrency," the report said. "Financial regulators have worried about policing cryptocurrencies and have raised concerns about the long-term viability of such currencies, such as Bitcoin."
Still Young and Male
Men were still substantially more likely to have invested in, traded, or used a cryptocurrency than women, Pew found.
Overall, 22% of men were crypto users, compared with 10% of women.
And younger adults far outnumbered older Americans: 31% of 18-29 year olds and 21% of 30-49 year olds are involved in crypto, compared with just 8% of 50-65 year olds and 3% of over-65s.
