Half of Americans think Cryptocurrency should be regulated
By Maru Entertainment & Technology | December 2022
The Crypto Winter has become the Crypto Crisis.
The collapse of FTX, a large cryptocurrency exchange, has severely impacted the values of the many cryptocurrencies in existence, which were already depressed versus their highs of 2021.
The Entertainment and Technology team at Maru recently ran some consumer questions to assess how the public perceives crypto, with the results shared below.
Around one in five U.S. adults said they owned crypto, with this shooting up to two out of five adults 18-34, perhaps proving the adage that younger people are more risk-tolerant. Older Americans are much more skeptical, with just 4% reporting ownership.
Interestingly, the older one gets, the more likely one is to think that cryptocurrency should be Federally regulated. Of particular note is that 54% of those owning crypto think that the government should provide oversight, compared to 47% of those who don’t own it. Perhaps the recent crash has proven to be the breaking point for many owners.
Yet half of 18-34s think cryptocurrency is a great investment, despite its current issues, which is a greater level than those who currently own it. This pattern holds true for all age groups, but it should be noted that some people may not have the disposable income to currently invest but still see the format as a good option if they could.
The older one gets, the more likely one is to think that cryptocurrencies are often scams. With the frequent celebrity involvement in scams still dominating headlines, it’s easy to see why this perception is so strong, especially when tied into the recent FTX crash and alleged financial impropriety of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
Done correctly, likely in conjunction with federal oversight, a sizeable proportion of U.S. adults (two in five) think that crypto is the future of finance, double the current overall ownership rates. This is likely a combination of seeing what is possible with technology, versus seeing the current state of the industry as all it can be and reflecting dissatisfaction with the current financial system.
Overall, people find cryptocurrency confusing, a big barrier for future providers to clear. In addition, a lack of trust and thinking that there are bad actors in the industry will also prove to be big issues that need to be addressed for crypto to reach its true potential. Yet people also recognize crypto for being cutting-edge technology, and it will likely play a growing role in finance over the next decade, although only once public trust is restored and the crypto crisis is over.
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