The number of cryptocurrency owners around the world is set to pass 1 billion this year, with women accounting for an increasingly large proportion of ownership, according to new research.
Research by blockchain-based social investing network Invstr found that 47% of cryptocurrency owners are now female – up from 40% at the end of 2017. By contrast, 92% of traditional stock market investors are male, it says.
The research also found that 42% of cryptocurrency holders are aged 18-34 compared to 36% in last year’s study, while only 2% are over 55, down from 5%. It suggests younger people are more likely to invest in cryptocurrencies than older generations.
Meanwhile, the average amount invested has fallen slightly, from $4,800 to $4,200, with men investing more than women.
The report warns of significant volatility in the market. “A large percentage of investors said they would likely not be able to afford to buy any cryptocurrency,” it says. “As a result, many may do nothing and miss out on lifelong investment opportunities.”
As of today, there are 1.43 billion internet users in the world and 537 million people using cryptocurrency wallets. The number is expected to reach 1.9 billion by 2020. That’s a lot of crypto investors!
According to the latest research conducted by eToro and London based Magister Advisors, it was revealed that currently there are around 200,000 global crypto owners with an average age of 35 years old and a tech-savvy generation between 25 and 34 years old currently owning 50% of the total ownership worldwide. About 42% of these people have a secondary occupation while 27% said they will likely work fewer hours in order to focus more on their digital assets investments.
The fact that it is a relatively new form of investment and asset class makes the crypto market very enticing for the millennial generation. As a matter of fact, millennials are very much interested in having an alternative to traditional assets such as stocks, bonds and real-estate. This means that this group will increasingly invest more into cryptocurrencies.
Although ownership of digital currency is highly concentrated among a few wealthy individuals (about 42% or 4 out of 10 people own up to $5,000 worth), this might change because many believe that there’s nothing stopping anyone from joining the bandwagon! In addition, 51% said they would be willing to buy between $1,000 and $100,000 worth while 20% said they want to purchase tokens less than $1,000.
Millennials also believe that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance with 71% of them agreeing to this statement. This is mainly due to their dislike for banks and traditional financial institutions due to their fallacies and lack of understanding the world’s problems, which is why they prefer digital currencies instead.