By FintechNews staff
- A new survey published by Visa shows that 18% of Hong Kong residents are active cryptocurrency investors, while 13% are passive investors, representing the second-highest engagement with crypto just after the U.S.
Fast facts
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The survey collected 6,430 online responses from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, South Africa, the U.S., and the U.K. between Aug. 25 and Sept. 13.
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Among the surveyed developed markets, the U.S. appeared to have the most engaged investors, followed by Hong Kong. The survey shows 27% of the U.S. respondents are active crypto owners — those who have used cryptocurrency to send or receive money, buy goods or accept payment at least once — while 9% are passive investors. Passive owners are defined as consumers who have purchased crypto as an investment but have not transferred or transacted with it.
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The survey found that nearly one in three crypto-aware adults across the surveyed jurisdictions already own or use cryptocurrency, and 62% of that group said their use has increased in the past year.
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Almost two in three consumers who transact with cryptocurrency are men (65% Active
Owners), while a strong majority of completely unengaged consumers are women (57% unengaged).
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Those with stronger engagement tend to be younger whereas those with weaker or no
engagement tend to be older. Over half of consumers who own cryptocurrency are under 35 (51% owners), whereas the vast majority of those who have not engaged at all with it are over 35 (78% unengaged).
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Income does not universally play a role, but there are trends in Australia, the UK, Argentina and Brazil where engagement is correlated with income or socioeconomic level. For example, the majority of owners in Australia have household incomes over AU$100,000 (52% owners), compared to just over a third of non-owners (37% non-owners).
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Approximately half of consumers who own cryptocurrency acquire their cryptocurrency from crypto-first exchanges (49% owners), with more than a third indicating that they earn crypto through mining or staking (39% owners) and another third indicating that they acquire through investment platforms (35% owners). Earning crypto through mining or staking is somewhat more popular in emerging markets (47% owners in emerging markets), although crypto-first exchanges are still the most commonly used for acquiring cryptocurrency (51% owners in emerging markets).
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Notably, the Visa survey shows that among current crypto owners, 81% of them express interest in crypto-linked cards, which allow users to convert and spend crypto at retailers.
