Cryptocurrency Ownership among U.S. Households

Cryptocurrency has become more prevalent since it first entered the global economy. However, no consistent measurement of cryptocurrency ownership among American households has emerged. This blog post uses what data are available through the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to estimate the distribution of cryptocurrency ownership in the U.S., finding that roughly 4.3% of Americans held such assets.

Available Survey Data about Cryptocurrency Ownership

The triennial SCF has been known as one of the best available sources for microdata about asset holdings in the U.S. for several decades. The most recent survey, conducted in 2022, contains useful information for computing cryptocurrency ownership. It includes questions that ask respondents to identify:

• What types of assets they own from among several different categories, including “other assets”
• If they own “other assets,” what three (selected from a list that includes cryptocurrency) are the most important
• How much of that type of asset they own

Hence, although information about cryptocurrencies is not asked about at the front of the survey, some data about cryptocurrency are trackable.

While the survey data do provide cryptocurrency statistics, they come with some limitations. Most prominently, due to the survey’s small sample size, they are susceptible to uncertainty. To quantify the degree of uncertainty the survey sample contains, we used a technique called bootstrapping to repeatedly resample the data. Thus, we estimated 90% confidence intervals for each statistic we present. This means the statistic’s value will likely be in the given range with 90% odds.

It should be noted that since the value of cryptocurrency has large fluctuations, the values reported here may not be an accurate representation of the values a few years before or after the year of the survey.

Cryptocurrency Ownership in the U.S. Varies

The 2022 survey data indicate that about 4.3% of U.S. households owned cryptocurrency. The table below shows the amount of cryptocurrency held by these households. The second column reports the estimated values of their cryptocurrency holdings, and the third and fourth columns report the lower bound and the upper bound of 90% confidence intervals for each statistic.

Although there is some uncertainty in the 4.3% cryptocurrency ownership rate found among U.S. households, the 90% confidence interval for this statistic is quite small, between 3.8% and 4.9%.

The percentile breakdown presents striking differences in ownership of the asset among cryptocurrency holders. The 25th percentile statistic indicates that one-fourth of cryptocurrency holders own $648 or less in cryptocurrency. At the same time, the 75th percentile statistic suggests that another one-fourth of cryptocurrency holders own $10,000 or more. The differences become more prominent for cryptocurrency owners in higher percentiles, with holdings of $30,800 and $92,400 for the 90th and 95th percentiles, respectively.

Notice that uncertainty for many of these statistics is relatively small. For example, we found that 75% of U.S. cryptocurrency owners held less than $12,858 with 90% confidence. However, there is significant uncertainty for the 90th and 95th percentiles. In particular, for the 95th percentile, the 90% confidence interval is $37,342 to $147,458.

In conclusion, the SCF presents a unique opportunity to explore cryptocurrency ownership rates and holdings. Although there is some uncertainty around our estimates due to sample size, we found that only a relatively small proportion of households held cryptocurrency and an even smaller proportion held a large quantity.

The authors thank Charlie Rafkin for comments on bootstrapping with the SCF.