Fact or Fiction: Crypto is a fringe asset
There is a commonly held belief that only a small fringe of society is interested in or holds any form of cryptocurrency. It is simply a magical internet money only held by coders, geeks, or evil dark web cyber criminals!
Now, sure, crypto is something that hasn’t seen wide-scale, mainstream adoption at this point. I’m sure if you were to go for a walk and ask ten random people about cryptocurrency, a couple may be able to give you a detailed answer, but the rest may have more of a surface level knowledge, if any. However, just because it’s not something that’s widely used at this point, it doesn’t necessarily make it fringe. After all, how many individuals directly invest in stocks or gold, as opposed to simply investing in an ETF or mutual fund. Are these people fringe as well?
So, is there any truth to crypto being a fringe asset, or is it simply a myth being perpetuated by those who want to see crypto fail, the same ones who shout at the top of their lungs that crypto is only used by criminals and that it is nothing but a big Ponzi scheme?
What the data says
When in doubt, turn to data, and thankfully, there is plenty of it.
One study found that, as of May 2021, 46 million Americans, or 17% of adults, now own at least some Bitcoin. 46 million, or 17% is pretty substantial, and not something I would call fringe. After all, a 2018 Gallup poll found that only 5% of American’s are vegetarian, yet vegetarianism is a widely accepted dietary choice represented on most menus. More than three times as many people own some Bitcoin than are vegetarian in the U.S., but I would argue that vegetarianism is not a fringe diet. Oh, and here’s a fun fact, one survey found that only 10.8% of American’s own gold.
% of Americans that own Bitcoin vs Gold
For another great stat, one can look to India. India has seen a boom in crypto ownership over the past year, with crypto investments growing from 200 million to nearly 40 billion, or a whopping 200 times increase.
Another data set found that between June 2019, and June 2021 the amount of blockchain wallet users worldwide nearly doubled from roughly 40 million to 73.5 million. This number continues to rise drastically, and one can reasonably expect this exponential increase to continue in the coming years.
A similar measure that could be looked at is the number of users on cryptocurrency exchanges. One of the largest exchanges, Coinbase, for example, has seen their users increase more than four times since 2017, going from 13 million to 56 million.
Other indicators of widescale adoption
One obvious indicator that cryptocurrency is becoming widely adopted is the number of post-secondary institutions teaching Blockchain courses. Blockchain programs can be found at prestigious universities all over the world, and many in the US including but not limited to Harvard, Standford, Cornell, MIT, Columbia, Berkeley, Georgetown, and Princeton.
Oh, and then there’s the fact whole countries are beginning to adopt crypto as legal tender. Recently, El Salvador, a country of 6.5 million, announced its intention to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, and many other countries are expected to follow suit in short order.
Finally, another solid indicator that crypto is no longer on the fringe is the number of large companies accepting crypto payments. Some of these companies include Microsoft, Visa, PayPal, Expedia, LOT Polish Airlines, and more. This number will surely continue to grow in the coming years, especially as countries adopt crypto as legal tender.
In summary, to suggest that crypto is only held and used on the fringe is ludicrous and pure fiction. It may not be at the stage of mainstream adoption yet, but it certainly past being a fringe asset.
Do you believe that crypto is a fringe asset, or would you argue that is already in the mainstream? Tweet us at @Crypto_Altruism, we’d love to hear from you!
