The Federal Reserve found that the wealthiest Americans use digital assets. Most take advantage of them as investment instruments, not payment.
A recent survey presented that the number of people in the United States of America using digital assets has been rising, and most are part of unbanked citizens.
The US Federal Reserve (FED), the nation’s central bank, released its annual report on Monday looking at the financial lives of Americans, which for the first time included digital assets. This report, “Economic well-being of US households in 2021,” focused on a survey that got split among 11,000 citizens during October and November of last year.
The annual study considers a pack of factors that intend to measure the economic status of customers, including questions about profits, types of work, taxes, bank credits, and other data linked to the spending and financial scenarios of citizens. For the first time, the survey included questions about digital assets ownership and adoption.
12% of Americans Possess Crypto
Data gathered by the FED highlighted that by 2021, 12% of the adult population in the US would use digital assets such as Bitcoin. In general, the study expresses that most crypto users are not interested in employing it as a payment method; instead, they describe the new asset as an investment tool.
Of this group, 11% stated that they used digital assets as an investment method, while “2% of adults highlighted they had used crypto assets to acquire goods or make a payment in the previous 12 months, and 1% used to send funds to friends or family.
Likewise, the research also found that users who turned to digital assets were twice as likely to be unbanked as citizens who did not use them.
The use of digital currencies as an investment instrument was much more common than the use for transactions or purchases. However, while transactional digital currencies were low, those who used digital currencies to achieve acquisitions rather than investments often lacked traditional bank accounts.
Adoption Among the Wealthiest
In this sense, the North American monetary authority found that the Population’s socioeconomic status was also a factor in the trend of adopting digital assets. As such, adults with lower profits are more likely to turn to Crypto to carry out transactional activities, while those with higher yields use it as an investment tool, the research found.
46% of those who used digital assets only for investing had a profit registered at $100,000 or more, while 29% had an income of less than $50,000,” the report said. Also, 99% of those who invested in digital assets but did not employ them for transactions had a bank account, and 89% of non-retired crypto investors had at least some retirement savings.
By: Jenson Nuñez
