A survey of 3,538 adults reveals the characteristics of Bitcoin holders in the United States: a majority are moderates, with smaller groups of conservatives and liberals.
A recent survey conducted by the nonprofit project The Nakamoto Project, involving 3,538 adults in the United States, provided a detailed picture of Bitcoin holders by analyzing demographic, political, and moral aspects.
Demographic aspect
According to the collected data, about 14% of Americans own Bitcoin. The study reports that there are no significant differences between Bitcoin owners and non-owners regarding race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, income, education, or financial literacy. However, the authors highlight that there are differences in terms of age and gender: Bitcoin owners tend to be younger and predominantly male.
Political and social characteristics
The survey shows that individuals who hold Bitcoin tend to be mostly moderates, with smaller groups of conservatives and liberals. This suggests that Bitcoin adoption spans across different segments of the population, with a weak correlation between Bitcoin ownership and specific moral values, but a strong correlation with knowledge of the asset itself.
Troy Cross, Chief Editor of The Nakamoto Project, stated:
“One might be tempted to think that Bitcoin ownership is a kind of identity, and especially a kind of identity that reflects political orientation. We found that not to be the case. Bitcoin owners are politically just like the rest of America: mostly moderate, with smaller conservative and liberal contingents.”
The study claims to have identified only one factor related to Bitcoin ownership in the political sphere: identifying as a libertarian is moderately correlated with Bitcoin ownership. However, the authors specify that, given the low number of libertarians in the general population, only 3% of Bitcoin holders identify as libertarians, while 97% do not.
Moral aspects and knowledge
The document suggests that Bitcoin holders tend to exhibit slightly higher values in certain specific moral foundations, such as equality, proportionality, loyalty, cultural freedom, and purity.
According to the survey, the main determinants of Bitcoin ownership are knowledge of the asset, belief in its usefulness, trust in the protocol and the asset itself, and the perception of its morality. The research highlights that each of these factors shows a strong mutual correlation and a correlation with Bitcoin ownership.
Finally, the study reports that people who do not own Bitcoin tend to distrust the asset or maintain a neutral stance regarding its reliability. In contrast, most holders express trust in its technology.
The research also highlights a similar distinction regarding the moral perception of Bitcoin. Non-holders tend to be neutral about its morality, while Bitcoin holders believe it to be morally positive.
