Cryptocurrency is a young man’s game — at least according to new results from the NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey.
Young men are far more likely to say they’ve owned or used cryptocurrency, and they’re far more likely than other crypto owners to view their investment as a fast way to make money, the poll found.
Crypto owners are a relatively small portion of the adult population: Just 2% say they own or trade cryptocurrency regularly, while another 11% say they occasionally do.
Another 21% said they do not own any crypto but are interested in it, while the remaining two-thirds of adults say they don’t own crypto and aren’t interested in it.
Men (18%) are far more likely to say they own or trade crypto than women (7%) — and the divide is particularly pronounced among younger generations.
Among adult men under 30 years old, 20% say they own or trade crypto, while just 6% of similarly aged women say the same.
Twice as many men ages 30-44 (26%) as women in that age range (13%) say they own or trade crypto, too.
There's another split along party lines. Twice as many Republicans (18%) say they own or trade crypto as Democrats (9%). President Donald Trump's administration has moved to enact new policies aimed at embracing crypto, and he and his family have launched their own crypto-related ventures in recent months, too.
The younger men surveyed also say they have different motivations for using cryptocurrency than others.
When asked the main reason they have used cryptocurrency, the most popular answer among 18- to 29-year-old men (25%) is that it's a "fast way to make money." That's compared to 15% of the overall adult population who said the same.
The next two most popular answers for these young men were that it's "easier to get into than other ways to invest" and that they "want to be part of the crypto community" — the two answers that led the pack among the general adult population.
Among the 18- to 29-year-old women who say they've used cryptocurrency, the perception of it being an easier way to invest is the most salient, with 32% of those young women sharing that view.
The results also show a difference in the motivations of crypto users with different educational backgrounds, with higher shares of adults without a college education saying they believe crypto has a lower barrier to entry when compared to other investment options.
Thirty percent of those with a high school education or less say that is their main reason for using cryptocurrency, compared to 26% of people with some college education. Nineteen percent of college graduates and 16% of those with postgraduate degrees agree.
