97% of Aussies now know about cryptocurrency, with investments predicted to soar in 2022

Leading Australian cryptocurrency exchange CoinSpot has today launched the findings of a new national survey, which reveals an overall awareness rate of cryptocurrency amongst Australians has reached 97%.

The latest survey of over 2055 Australians commissioned by CoinSpot found that trust, ownership, risk appetite and legitimate investing for wealth building is on the rise in Australia- and not just amongst young people.

The CoinSpot Crypto Awareness Survey found that over 1 in 5 Australians (22%) have bought, sold, swapped or traded crypto over the last four years, as uptake of crypto, particularly among the Generation Z, Millennials and Generation X swells by an average of over 10% from the year prior.

1 in 4 everyday Australians trust crypto completely (27%), especially when it comes to navigating financial and economic concerns, as well as hedging against inflation.

The survey found almost half of Australians (42%) believe cryptocurrency will be more widely accepted and that its associated risks will decrease in the future.

2 in 5 Aussies (43%) also indicated they expect to own cryptocurrency in the next 5 years, an increase of almost 20% since 2020.

In addition to this, the survey uncovered the following key findings:

Middle aged adults are driving significant crypto user growth

While Generation Z and Millennials have historically been the main adopters of crypto, the data showed an influx of Generation X investors jumping on the crypto bandwagon over the past two years, as Mum-and-Dad investors boost their knowledge and trust in the asset.

• Understanding is increasing: Generation X awareness of crypto has increased since 2020, with 61% having an understanding of crypto (22% know “a fair bit”, up from 14% in 2020, and 39% know “a little bit” about crypto, up from 20% in 2020)

          Comparatively across generations:

• 65% of Generation Z have an understanding of crypto (24% of know a fair bit, 41% know a little bit)

• 72% of Millennials have an understanding of crypto (26% know a fair bit, 46% know a little bit)

• Trust is up: 61% of Generation X have some level of trust in crypto (26% trust crypto a fair amount/completely, 35% trust a little bit (compared to 17% and 29% in 2020)

          Comparatively:

• 78% of Generation Z (47% trust crypto a fair amount/completely, 31% trust a little bit)

• 78% of Millennials have some level of trust in crypto (43% trust crypto a fair amount/ completely, 35% trust a little bit)

• And they plan to keep investing: 49% of Generation X expect to own crypto in the next 5 years.

  Comparatively:

• 64% of Generation Z and 54% of Millennials expect to own crypto in the next 5 years.

Fewer Aussies are investing ‘for fun”, instead legitimate investing and wealth generation is on the rise

• The proportion of Australian investors taking crypto investments more seriously has increased, with less investing for enjoyment (down almost 10% from June 2021) and more investing for business (up 8%) and personal use (up 6%).

• This trend is also reflected across CoinSpot’s customer base with a 6% drop in investing for fun (from June 2021), a 6% increase for business and 1% increase for personal use.

Appetite for risk has increased as long-term investing becomes the norm

• 2 in 5 Australians are willing to accept moderate to high levels of financial risk when investing in crypto.

• Willingness to accept risk was highest amongst Millennials (56%) increased in Generation X (48%)

• The majority of Australians are long term focused when investing in crypto (55%)

Tim Wilks, marketing executive at CoinSpot said, “There are no surprises in this data. 2021 was a massive year for crypto and adoption soared broadly across the market. At Coinspot alone we saw a 100% boost in numbers, from 1 million users in February 2021 to over 2 million as of October 2021. Almost every Aussie has heard the term crypto at this point. There’s a good chance your grandparents have heard of, or maybe even invested in Bitcoin. With crypto news consistently reaching news and television, this shows just how mainstream digital currencies have become.

“The younger generations will always be early adopters of tech, which we’ve seen in previous iterations of this report. From the data it appears as though we are reaching an inflection point in mainstream adoption when the historically more conservative/risk averse generations start to jump on board in larger numbers. From institutional investors, private offices, corporates, to everyday Mums and Dads, the appeal and opportunity that exists with crypto is becoming better understood,” concluded Wilks.

Since its launch in 2013, CoinSpot is Australia’s most popular crypto exchanges with over 2 million users currently using the platform to buy, sell, swap and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and over 300+ digital currencies.