Home
News
- Cryptocurrency is a twenty-first-century financial instrument with a twentieth-century problem: a lack of women
- From August 4 to 9, 2021, Momentive, the business formerly known as SurveyMonkey, conducted a poll for CNBC and Acorns among more than 5,530 adults in the United States, 2,980 of whom have investments in equities, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, or cryptocurrency
- Women and people of colour have long been excluded from personal investment and the financial sector in general
Cryptocurrency is a twenty-first-century financial instrument with a twentieth-century problem: a lack of women. According to CNBC and Acorn’s Invest in You: Next Gen Investor poll, done in association with Momentive, twice as many men as women invest in bitcoin (16 percent of males vs. 7% of women).
Women are falling behind men in terms of bitcoin investment, just as they have in the past when it comes to more traditional financial areas. In fact, the gender gap in crypto ownership matches or exceeds the gender gaps in exchange-traded funds (14 percent of men vs. 7% of women), individual stocks (40 percent of men vs. 24 percent of women), mutual funds (30 percent of men vs. 20 percent of women), real estate (36 percent of men vs. 30 percent of women), and bonds (36 percent of men vs. 30 percent of women) (14 percent of men vs. 11 percent of women).
From August 4 to 9, 2021, Momentive, the business formerly known as SurveyMonkey, conducted a poll for CNBC and Acorns among more than 5,530 adults in the United States, 2,980 of whom have investments in equities, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, or cryptocurrency. For decades, the financial services industry has been plagued by gender discrepancies, but cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, and dogecoin have been pushed as a method to democratize a historically closed-off area, allowing new and more diverse investors into the fold. Only approximately one out of every ten Americans (11%) already invests in cryptocurrencies, but the industry has yet to gain traction among the critical demographic category of women.
That’s especially perplexing given, in other ways, bitcoin is delivering on its promise of leveling the playing field. Crypto is the only financial vertical in which younger persons have a higher participation rate than older ones: 15% of those aged 18 to 34 possess cryptocurrencies, compared to 11% of those aged 35 to 64 and 4% of those aged 65 and beyond.
Even more intriguing is the fact that people of all races are roughly equally likely to hold cryptocurrency: 11% of whites, 11% of Blacks, 10% of Hispanics, 14% of Asians, and 13% of persons of another race own bitcoin. Despite the fact that bitcoin has broken down barriers to investing based on race, it has yet to do so based on gender.
Women and people of colour have long been excluded from personal investment and the financial sector in general. Without a male co-signer, women could not take out a loan, sign a mortgage, or even own a credit card for decades. Discrimination and institutional impediments to investing afflicted people of color as well. These discriminatory acts have left an indelible mark on history.
According to the new report, Black women are half as likely to own real estate as Black men, one-third as likely as white women, and one-fourth as likely as white men. Similarly, only 51% of Black women, compared to 63 percent of Black men, 71 percent of white women, and 78 percent of white men, say they hold a standard checking account.
At the same time, Black women have by far the greatest rates of school debt: 30% of Black women have student debt, compared to only 17% of Black men, 16% of white women, and 13% of white men. Cryptocurrency, as a still-developing market, is well-positioned to avoid many of the discriminating problems that the traditional investment world has inculcated through time. Today’s would-be investors have additional resources at their disposal, including social media platforms, online training, and targeted marketing, to get people interested in new or classic types of investing. Black women may feel shut out of the investment world if they don’t have access to these more traditional financial products. Although women of all races are equally likely to state that no one has taught them how to invest (28 percent of all women), Black and Hispanic women still invest at lower rates than white women.
Whites still make up the bulk of the crypto industry, despite the fact that individuals of color are investing in cryptocurrency at higher rates than they do in other financial areas. More than half of bitcoin investors (62%) are white, 67 percent are men, and 66 percent are under 45 years old. When compared to persons who invest in mutual funds, for example, who are 80 percent white, 58 percent male, and 75 percent 45 and older, this is a more diversified population. When gender and ethnicity are factored in, bitcoin resembles some of the more staid financial verticals: only 19 percent of cryptocurrency investors are white women, and only 4% are Black women. Because of the lack of diversity among bitcoin investors, large segments of the public are missing out on the chance, repeating the investing industry’s history.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
