FDIC Crypto Survey: 92% of Users Hold Assets as Investments, Unbanked Households Use Crypto Less Than Any Other Group

Of the 30,000 households the FDIC polled for its newly released FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, unbanked households actually use crypto less than any other group, at 1.2%, compared to 6.2% of underbanked households and 4.8% of fully-banked households.

The FDIC released its National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households on Friday. The survey included questions on crypto use for the first time ever, revealing that only 4.2% of American households reported using crypto in 2023.

Of those who used crypto, the vast majority (92%) held the assets as investments, while only 3.3% used it as a way to send and receive money. This suggests that crypto is primarily being used by Americans as a store of value rather than a medium of exchange.

The use of crypto also varied widely by household characteristics. For example, higher-income households were more likely to use crypto than lower-income households. Specifically, 7% of households with income of $75,000 or more used crypto, compared with 1.1 percent of households with less than $15,000 in income.

Additionally, younger households were more likely to use crypto than older households. For instance, 9.8% of households aged 25 to 34 used crypto, compared with 1.2 percent of households aged 65 or older.

The survey also found that Asian and White households were more likely to use crypto than Black and Hispanic households. Specifically, 7.5% of Asian households and 5.2% of White households used crypto, compared to 3.2% from Black households and 3.5% from Hispanic households.

Overall, the survey results provide new insights into the use of crypto by American households and suggest that the technology is still being adopted by a relatively small number of people. However, the high rate of investment use could indicate that crypto is gaining traction as an asset class.