New research shows that those who didn’t vote in the General Election are more likely to have invested in cryptocurrency (25%) than UK adults overall. The study, conducted in August 2021 by market research company Savanta, canvassed a representative sample of 2,075 people across the UK.
Conversely, just 15% of Conservatives surveyed have invested. Green and Liberal Democrat supporters are also more likely to be interested in digital investment opportunities.
In fact, 9% of people say the main attraction of cryptocurrency is its lack of regulation. However, one person’s treasure is another’s trash, as 64% claim the lack of regulation makes cryptocurrency too big a risk. Furthermore, 57% believe the risk isn’t worth the reward.
The research also suggests a slight slowdown in adopters, with crypto investments peaking 2yrs ago for non-voters, who have, perhaps, been put off by new regulation around digital currencies.
While just 9% of people invest their money in cryptocurrency, that’s still more than government or corporate bonds (8%), gold and other commodities (6%) and Forex trading (5%). Interestingly, 38% of Green Voters did not trust more traditional investment opportunities.
However, while 20% of people claim to have had stakes in the data-based money at some point, and 24% see a potentially high ROI as a main advantage of the currency, with almost two-thirds (61%) claiming they don’t invest their money in crypto, and don’t plan to in the future.
Crypto also appears to be a young person’s game, with 15% of 18-34 year olds dabbling in the currency against just 2% of over-55s.
Stephen Palmer, EVP Financial Services at Savanta, says: “The age and political demographics of crypto investors makes one thing clear: the unregulated, anti-establishment nature of the currency clearly chimes with a certain left-leaning, younger crowd.
“Given the majority of people outside this demographic look to crypto with an air of caution, perhaps the constant calls for regulation may bring those sceptics onboard later down the line.”
“What cannot be denied though is that crypto is very much becoming a mainstream conversation. We’ve seen the likes of Paypal getting involved with the market, and the more that trusted brands associate themselves with this space, the more legitimacy it gains. It will be interesting to see how these stats change in the near future.”