Who Is Spending Crypto?

Over 70% of crypto enthusiasts are spending, not holding. Who are these people? What does their spending behavior look like? How much are they spending? 

Now that there’s commercial infrastructure being built around cryptocurrency, it is now the preferable form of spending. Find out how your business can give your customers a new way to spend. 

Businesses are diversifying their payment options to win over crypto consumers who trade coins for both low and high-value items regularly. From groceries to luxury villas, crypto consumers are an untapped audience for many businesses—an audience that spends more and more each year. 

Key Takeaways

• 40% of crypto spent is from new customers
  • As a customer acquisition tool, accepting crypto is one of the easiest ways to diversify your audience. Based on interviews with a number of crypto consumers, the mere fact of accepting cryptocurrency is the main motivating factor to bring crypto-spenders to your business.

• 54.4% of crypto spent comes from South and East Asia
  • The mobilization of technology in Asia makes mobile spending easily accessible. 

• Crypto consumers statistically spend 2x more
  • The AOV of crypto users is twice as much as traditional currencies. In July 2021, Visa announced that over $1 billion had been spent since they added a crypto option.

• Market cap grew 800% in 2020 alone
  • The market cap of bitcoin was just $4 billion in 2013 which is roughly 0.4% of what it is today. Experts predict it will reach $2 trillion by 2030.

Who Is Spending Crypto?

Crypto spenders create a new audience for businesses, so it’s important to understand their demographics, how much they’re spending, and what they’re spending crypto on.

Age:

94% of crypto-owners are between the ages of 18 and 40. It’s hypothesized to be the case because gen-X, millennials, and gen-Z are technologically savvy and it’s an easy first step into investment. 

Gender:

Despite 91.2% of crypto consumers being male, there is a growth in women investing and working in cryptocurrency. 

Class Status:

Lower middle-class tier demographics prove to invest in crypto more than any other. This could be due to the fact that it’s one of the easiest and only options to invest funds of any amount at the touch of a button. 

Income Range:

46.1% of the people spending crypto have an annual income under $10,000, which is more than half of the total global population earning at that level. 20% of the crypto being spent is held by people making between $30,000 and $100,000 annually.

Employment Status:

Roughly 60% of all crypto spenders come from freelancers and workers with 13.5% coming from business owners and independent investors. 

Crypto-Spender Behavior

It’s predicted that by 2030, blockchain technology will be a significant contributor to the global GDP, bringing it close to $2 trillion. Developing countries will be setting the trends in cryptocurrency development.

As of January 2021, cryptocurrency is the world’s fifth-most circulated currency by value. With a market cap of over $2 trillion and there’s a lot of money flying between vendors, consumers, and exchanges.

Annual Spending:

38% of the 221 million crypto users are spending between $1,000 and $10,000 per year. Of the total who spend crypto, 77% say they plan to spend more again in the following years. 

Annual Spending By Age:

When breaking down the annual spend by age, despite 94% of crypto- consumers being aged between 18 and 40 years old, the big spenders are those between 41 and 56. The average total spending of Gen X  is more than twice as much as the average spending of Boomers. Millennials are still spending nearly as much as Gen X, making them the most viable audience to target for the growth of the crypto market.

Blockchain Spending:

Cryptocurrency runs on blockchain technology, therefore requiring investments to make it run smoother, faster, and simpler.

Crypto and Cash Coexisting

At the moment, cryptocurrencies operate alongside official currencies. The current volumes are small and don’t exactly challenge the position of official money as the main currency. But as algorithms improve to limit the volatility of cryptocurrencies, their popularity and use could increase.

What it means for banks:

It’s all a question of stability. While some fiat coins make a great case for cryptocurrency, it’s most likely banks will need to take some more control of cryptocurrency.

The use of Central Bank Digital Currencies increased significantly in 2021 in an effort to create the next evolution of money. In fact, banks that represent over 90% of global GDP are said to have begun preparing their CBDCs. For them, the main obstacles are taxability and tracing. As cryptocurrency normalizes itself as a go-to payment option this will mean a green light for banks to move forward.

What it means for cryptocurrencies:

What would this mean for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or ethereum? By acting as a disciplinary device on central banks, banks investing in cryptocurrency can only increase its value and calm its volatility while it remains anonymous and borderless.

For more information and facts about crypto spending, check out this full report.

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