The estimated number of global crypto users has passed 100 million - and boomers are now getting drawn to bitcoin too, reports find
Bitcoin is drawing in users from all age groups, according to one financial firm’s survey of clients NurPhoto/Getty Images
Around 106 million people are now using cryptocurrencies around the world, Crypto.com estimated in a report.
deVere Group said its clients aged 55 and above are increasingly drawn to tokens like bitcoin.
The bitcoin price has soared this year and was up around 68% to $49,260 on Thursday morning.
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More than 100 million people around the world are now using cryptocurrencies - and a growing number of baby boomers and Gen Xers are becoming interested in bitcoin and other tokens, according to two separate reports.
A report from exchange Crypto.com estimated that there were 106 million crypto users around the world in January, following a 16% jump in participants last month alone.
A separate survey from financial advisory group deVere found 70% of its clients aged over 55 had already invested in digital currencies, or were planning to do so, in 2021, despite bitcoin and others being strongly associated with younger, millennial investors.
Crypto.com’s report said the surge in the price of bitcoin and other digital tokens had been a key driver of the increased interest in cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin touched an all-time high of more than $58,000 on Sunday, before tumbling briefly to $45,000 on Tuesday. Nonetheless, on Thursday morning the bitcoin (BTC) price was around 68% higher for the year at $49,260.
June and August in 2020 and January in 2021 were “exceptionally strong months” for increases in crypto users, according to Crypto.com research manager Kevin Wang.
“What we notice is that periods of strong growth come after periods of strong price performance in bitcoin.”
Crypto.com also cited a boom in Ethereum’s token ether and institutional cryptocurrency adoption by the likes of PayPal and MicroStrategy as driving interest.
Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group, said the firm’s internal poll of 688 clients showed that the recent boom in cryptocurrencies “has captured the attention of people around the world - and not just so-called digital native younger generations.”
Crypto.com’s figure of 106 million users was reached by analyzing data from the blockchains upon which cryptocurrencies are based, as well as data from surveys and exchanges.
The exchange said that a number of caveats applied to the research. They include difficulties in knowing whether on-chain users still own crypto and in capturing traders who do not transact, or use exchanges, which could mean the figure could vary in either direction.
Caveats also apply to deVere’s research, with an internal poll of clients unlikely to represent the baby boomer, or Gen X generations, as a whole.
Baby boomers are the generation born in roughly the 20 years after World War II, while Generation X is the generation born between roughly the early 1960s and early 1980s, according to common definitions.
Nine messages to the world on crypto - CityAM
Nick Jones, Zumo CEO
I’ve worked in Tech for the last 20 years and see the emergence of the Commercial Web, Mobile and Social at close quarters.
I’m far more excited by the emergence of blockchain technology and crypto currencies than any of those “great leaps forward”. We’re on the cusp of seismic change (for the better) to the financial systems that have governed the way we live over the last 40 years.
2021 so far has been marked by new highs in the price of Bitcoin and other coins. Those highs will be matched by a growth in mainstream consumer interest during 2021. After Covid-19, consumers everywhere are waking up to the potential of cryptocurrencies to remake our global financial order and realise the benefits of smart money in their everyday lives.
As much as its potential, cryptocurrency also delights for the sheer heights of joy, rage, fear, excitement and outright ridiculousness it brings about. The space moves so quickly that we’re now used to Elon Musk’s latest Twitter interventions sparking sharp rises and falls in the market seemingly based on which side of bed he got out of that morning (or insert Musk related investment theory here!).
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not singling anybody out. We’re all at it – from mainstream commentators whose job it is to call out the “crypto bros” to paid up members of the fraternity who would be happy to see their dog (or maybe their cat?) walked on the blockchain if we could only find a way.
Anyone who’s interested in a technology that can be driven into a market frenzy by the simple change of a hashtag on one particular Twitter bio last week has to have a little touch of madness, don’t they?
The more extreme the debate becomes, however, the more barriers I feel are put in the way of mainstream adoption which should, after all, be our collective goal if crypto is going to realise its full potential.
Nick Jones, Zumo CEO
So, for this contribution to CryptoAM’s Founder Series, I wanted to reflect on the weird and wonderful things I think we need to start, or maybe, stop doing in order to bring the mass consumer market truly on side. Here they are:
- Explain the difference
Forget gold. Forget any other assets that you can trade on the stock market. Mainstream consumers simply want to know how digital currencies are better than the traditional currencies, and how it can work alongside their pound or euro. That means showing how crypto can be used to pay for their pint of milk or slice of pizza, but explaining that – for the first time in financial history – they, and not an intermediary, are fully in charge of the value of the currency they’re paying with. The blockchain means security and self-sovereignty. Nothing else matters.
- Challenge complexity
In an earlier market run in 2017-18, comedian John Oliver quipped that Bitcoin was “everything you don’t understand about money combined with everything you don’t understand about computers”. But do mainstream consumers need to understand the financial and digital explanations behind crypto in order to use and love it? Do they understand how the paper money in their pocket gets it value? I’d wager that not many would point to “gold” stored in central bank reserves (even though that’s an idea that itself has more place in the 1721 than 2021).
- Regulation is (probably) your friend
Regulation means trust. Approval marks given by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, for example, are endorsements that cryptocurrencies are a viable, beneficial way for consumers to hold and use money. While recent warnings that we should “be prepared to lose all our money” if we invest in them may sound overhyped, those in the crypto space should take the opportunity to revisit steps 1 and 2 and fully explain the risks involved.
- Embrace CBDCs
Where China leads on government-issued digital currencies, other major jurisdictions are sure to follow. CBDCs are a no brainer – they offer potentially huge increases in the speed of payments for consumers and retailers and come with the security benefits of being held on the blockchain. In developing markets, a CBDC could entice a large section of unregulated payments into the open. And if a reserve-issued stable coin, or e-pound, sit alongside your Bitcoin or Ethereum – so what? That means more choice and more potential uses.
- Mainstream media: stop naysaying!
Market traditionalists need to get real. Headlines that prophesise crypto’s imminent demise then backtrack at the first sign of the next bull run are out of touch with the numbers of ordinary people increasingly choosing cryptocurrencies as a positive financial alternative.
In June 2020, the FCA reported that the number of UK consumers who have invested in cryptocurrencies at some point jumped by 74% year-on-year to reach 2.6 million – 90% of whom held £4,300 or less and were taking their first steps in a new approach to their finances. Time to be sensible.
- But equally: stop the crypto fraternity!
That doesn’t let some in the crypto space off the hook for lack of a reality check or rampant utopianism. Patting yourself on the back with every increase in the price of Bitcoin, and expressing that on #cryptotwitter in doge or cat memes isn’t endearing to anyone. ‘Whales’ and ‘mooning’ are strictly off limits too. Mainstream consumers don’t get it and don’t want to.
- Call out the scammers
A Bill Gates-themed Ponzi scheme? Someone offering a private key to “help out” with accessing their $10 million in a coin you haven’t heard of ? Fat chance. And what’s more; we have to laugh because the scam is so ridiculous. It’s time the crypto community did more to call out the online highwaymen. It will serve our credibility dividends in the long term.
- Build better UX
Some of the technology sitting behind cryptocurrency platforms – particularly DeFi – is ground breaking. It is a wonder then why it’s look can’t be streamlined for the uninitiated. If we want cryptocurrency to catch on, it has to look the part. We can start with bringing more apps onto our smartphones.
- Laugh a little. Particularly at the power of Elon Musk.
There is no doubt that the stakes for our industry have been raised during the highs of the last year. The debate is polarised and the tone is becoming serious. All the more reason, then, that we take a glass eye to the space’s more ridiculous elements and drive into inclusivity, accessibility and clear explanations.
Or as Elon puts it: “♥️ i love all u crazy ppl out there♥️” ]
Crypto world: Cryptocurrencies pose unique challenges and need a judicious approach
In the flux after the 2008 financial crisis, an extraordinary instrument dubbed cryptocurrency was created. Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym used by the mysterious originator. It turned our understanding of currency on its head. Inspired by the philosophy of “self-sovereign identity” cryptocurrencies are an asset which are not anyone’s liability; neither is there a single authority or institution to maintain records. What we have are digital currencies designed for decentralised operations, cutting out a regulated intermediary like a bank.
Conventional money, or fiat currency, is issued by the state. It is usually the liability of a central bank such as RBI, which also oversees the recordkeeping of transactions. Its essential features are the credibility that comes from being guaranteed by the state, which leads to a central record keeper like RBI. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ripple are just the opposite. They are underpinned by a network called blockchain, run by anonymous computers linked together by a ledger of anonymised transactions. There are two potential issues that arise from cryptocurrencies. Will they supplant conventional currency, a state monopoly? Highly unlikely because inherent limitations of cryptocurrencies limit scalability and mass use.
A cryptocurrency like Bitcoin is also traded on exchanges, including in India, taking on the role of an asset. Here many governments, including India’s, have taken a dim view. Cryptocurrencies thrive on anonymity. They open the door to peer-to-peer transactions that circumvent state controls. FATF, the inter-government body that sets standards to combat money laundering and terror financing, worries about this instrument becoming a safe haven for illegal deals. Will a ban on cryptocurrencies solve the problem? It won’t because not only do they already exist, they are designed to bypass normal filters. It is a tricky issue which needs a well-thought approach.
Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.