In 2021, 12% of Americans own cryptocurrencies

• The Fed released its annual report on the financial well-being of Americans.
• High-income Americans use cryptocurrencies for investment purposes.
• Low-income Americans are more likely to use cryptoassets for payments.

The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) released its annual report, which analyzed the financial preferences of American residents. The document notes that Americans are more likely to use cryptocurrency as an investment tool rather than to make payments.

According to the report, 12% of adults owned or used cryptocurrencies in 2021. The data showed that cryptocurrency is predominantly used as an investment tool: only 2% use cryptoassets to make purchases and 1% use them to send money to friends or family.

Interestingly, low-income individuals are more likely to use cryptocurrencies for transactional purposes: 13% of those who used the new asset class for transactions did not have a traditional bank account, and 27% did not have a credit card. Nearly 6 in 10 adults who used cryptocurrency for transactions had an income of less than $50,000 per year.

Conversely, those who held cryptocurrency for investment purposes had "disproportionate income, bank accounts and retirement savings." 46% had an income of more than $100,000; 29% had less than $50,000.

A survey was conducted to collect statistics, with 11,000 participants in October and November 2021.