Approximately 30% of American adults, or 70.4 million people, own cryptocurrency today, up slightly from 27% in 2024, according to Security.org’s 2026 Cryptocurrency Annual Consumer Report. The popular framing treats crypto as a young person’s asset, yet the same report shows the 30-44 group makes up the largest share of owners at 32%, versus 19% for 18-29. The age-cohort, gender, generational, and intent-vs-ownership cuts that follow draw on eight institutional surveys.

Key Takeaways

About 30% of American adults own cryptocurrency in 2026, representing 70.4 million people, per Security.org’s 2026 consumer report.
Pew Research Center’s January 2026 American Trends Panel of 8,512 US adults puts ownership at 26% for ages 18-29, 28% for ages 30-49, and 10% for those 50 and older.
The Federal Reserve’s 2024 SHED reports 8% of US adults used crypto for any purpose, down from 12% in 2021.
JPMorgan Chase Institute’s de-identified banking data shows 20% of millennials, 11% of Gen X, and 4% of baby boomers engaged with crypto by mid-2022.
Crypto.com’s Market Sizing Report counts 741 million global owners in 2025, up 12.4% from 659 million in 2024.
Pew’s overall gender split for the same January 2026 survey shows 27% of men have invested in or used cryptocurrency compared to 11% of women.

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The 30-44 cohort leads US ownership at 32%, according to its 2026 age distribution.
Pew’s 30-49 bracket sits at 28% ownership in the January 2026 ATP survey.
Motley Fool’s May 2026 survey puts Gen Z likely-to-buy intent at 49% for the next year.
Pew Research finds 40% of men aged 30-49 have engaged with cryptocurrency, the highest age-by-gender bucket reported.
JPMorgan Chase Institute’s data shows Asian millennials at median income levels lead participation at 27%.
Gallup’s June 2025 survey reports 17% of investors own bitcoin or another cryptocurrency, up from just 6% in 2021.
Triple-A’s 2024 snapshot puts 34% of global crypto owners between the ages of 25 and 34.

US Crypto Ownership by Age Cohort

Pew’s January 2026 American Trends Panel of 8,512 US adults reports 26% ownership at ages 18-29, 28% at ages 30-49, and 10% at 50 and older.
Security.org’s 2026 age distribution shows 19% ownership for 18-29, 32% for 30-44, 31% for 45-59, and 17% for those 60 and older.
Among US owners, roughly two-thirds fall into the 30-59 age range, per the same Security.org report.
The Pew bracket (30-49) and the Security.org bracket (30-44 plus 45-59) both place the ownership peak in the 30-something to mid-50s band rather than 18-29.

Both Pew and Security.org place the peak in the 30-44 to 30-49 band rather than 18-29.

Age Cohort	Ownership (Pew Jan 2026)	Ownership (Security.org 2026)
18-29	26%	19%
30-44 / 30-49	28% (Pew 30-49)	32% (Security.org 30-44)
45-59	n/a	31%
50+ / 60+	10% (Pew 50+)	17% (Security.org 60+)

Source: Pew Research Center, January 2026; Security.org Cryptocurrency Annual Consumer Report 2026.

Methodology

The Pew figures come from an American Trends Panel survey of 8,512 US adults fielded January 20-26, 2026.
The Federal Reserve’s SHED survey collected its 2024 data and was published in May 2025, with the headline figures cited above.
Security.org’s 2026 figures come from its annual consumer survey.
Gallup’s headline figures come from a self-administered web survey of 2,017 adults conducted June 2-15, 2025, through its Gallup Panel.

The cross-survey refresh cadence in our coverage is quarterly for Pew and the Crypto.com Market Sizing Report and annual for Federal Reserve SHED, Security.org, Gallup, and Motley Fool.

US Crypto Ownership by Generation

JPMorgan Chase Institute’s de-identified Chase banking data places engagement at 20% for millennials, 11% for Generation X, and 4% for baby boomers, based on transfers to crypto accounts through mid-2022.
Motley Fool Money’s May 2026 survey of 2,000 American adults reports 49% of Gen Z respondents and 46% of millennials say they are likely to buy crypto in the next year, against 26% for Gen X and 11% for boomers.
Asian millennials at median income levels show the highest engagement at 27%, with Black and Hispanic millennials approximately equal at 21% and White millennials at 20%, per JPMCI.
Pew’s age-cohort cut maps to generations roughly as follows: ages 18-29 cover Gen Z plus younger millennials and land at 26% ownership; ages 30-49 cover older millennials and Gen X at 28%; the 50-plus bracket covers older Gen X, boomers, and silent at 10%.

Generation	Engagement (JPMCI mid-2022)	Likely-to-Buy Intent (Motley Fool May 2026)
Gen Z (under 25 in JPMCI window)	partially captured under 25-34	49%
Millennials	20%	46%
Gen X	11%	26%
Boomers	4%	11%

Source: JPMorgan Chase Institute (pre-mid-2022 banking data); Motley Fool May 2026 Survey; Pew Research Center, January 2026.

JPMCI captures revealed banking behavior through mid-2022; Motley Fool captures stated intent in May 2026.

Recent Developments

Pew published its January 2026 American Trends Panel survey of 8,512 US adults, the most recent dated US primary on age cohorts.
Motley Fool Money distributed the 2026 Cryptocurrency Investor Trends Survey via Pollfish on May 8, 2026, to 2,000 American adults.
Security.org’s 2026 Cryptocurrency Annual Consumer Report carries the approximately 30% ownership and 70.4 million owner figures for the US adult population.
Crypto.com’s Market Sizing Report counts global owners at 741 million in 2025, up 12.4% from 659 million in 2024.
The Federal Reserve’s SHED 2024 release in May 2025 anchors the 8% active-use rate, down from the 12% peak in 2021.
Gallup’s June 2025 survey reports 14% of US adults own Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

Intent vs Ownership by Generation

Gen Z likely-to-buy intent of 49% from Motley Fool’s May 2026 survey runs well ahead of Pew’s revealed ownership of 26% for ages 18-29. The intent-to-ownership multiple for the youngest cohort sits near 1.9x.
Millennials at 46% likely-to-buy intent per Motley Fool versus Pew’s 28% ownership in the 30-49 bracket. Millennials’ intent runs about 1.6x ahead of their revealed ownership.
Gen X likely-to-buy at 26% in the Motley Fool data sits closer to the Pew 30-49 and 50-plus blended ownership figures.
Boomers’ likely-to-buy of 11% from the same survey and Pew’s 10% ownership for ages 50 and older converge. Boomer intent per Motley Fool (11%) and 50-plus ownership per Pew (10%) sit at roughly 1.1x, essentially aligned, though the two figures come from different cohort cuts.

By the numbers: Motley Fool’s May 2026 survey of 2,000 American adults finds Gen Z reports 49% likely-to-buy intent for crypto in the next year while Pew’s January 2026 data puts revealed ownership at 26% for ages 18-29. The wedge narrows by generation, with boomers’ intent sitting close to their revealed ownership.

US Crypto Ownership by Gender and Age

Pew’s January 2026 topline shows 27% of men have invested in or used crypto compared with 11% of women.
Pew further reports 40% of men aged 30-49 have engaged with cryptocurrency, the single highest age-by-gender bucket in its data.
Gallup’s June 2025 matrix places men 18-49 at 25% ownership, women 18-49 at 8%, men 50 and older at 12%, and women 50 and older at 9%.
JPMorgan Chase Institute’s banking data shows men with roughly double the participation rate of women across all age groups.
Among US crypto owners, 35% of male owners fall in the 30-44 age bracket, while the largest female-owner cluster, 35%, is aged 45-59, per Security.org.

The gender gap is widest in the under-50 band, where Gallup measures men at 25% against women at 8%. Above 50, the gap closes sharply, 12% versus 9% in the same Gallup data. Our crypto user demographics coverage has documented similar gaps across surveys; the age-by-gender matrix above is the cut readers searching for rarely find in one place.

US Active Crypto Use Over Time

The Federal Reserve’s 2024 SHED reports 8% of US adults used cryptocurrency for any purpose in 2024, down from 12% in 2021.
The same SHED release breaks active use into 7% of adults who bought or held cryptocurrency as an investment, 2% used it to buy something or make a payment, and 1% used it to send money to friends or family in the prior 12 months.
Crypto transaction use ran at 5% among unbanked adults versus 2% among banked adults, per SHED.
Security.org’s 2026 report shows US adult ownership at approximately 30% in 2026, up from 27% in 2024, though still below the 33% peak in 2022.
The gap between Fed SHED’s 8% active-use measure and Security.org’s 30% any-current-ownership measure suggests that a large share of self-reported owners did not transact in crypto for any purpose during the prior 12 months, defining the lapsed-owner cohort.

Metric	2021	2022	2024	2026
Fed SHED, used crypto for any purpose	12%	n/a	8%	n/a
Security.org, current ownership	n/a	33%	27%	30%

Source: Federal Reserve SHED 2024 (published May 2025); Security.org Cryptocurrency Annual Consumer Report 2026.

Key finding: The Federal Reserve’s SHED 2024 measures active use, buying, holding, paying, or transferring crypto in the prior 12 months, while Security.org’s 2026 figure measures any current ownership. The headline divergence between active use and gross ownership is not a contradiction; it surfaces the lapsed-owner cohort only when both surveys are read side by side.

US Ownership by Race, Income, and Politics

Pew’s January 2026 race breakdown shows Asian adults leading at 25%, while White, Hispanic, and Black Americans cluster around 18% to 20%.
Pew’s income breakdown puts upper-income households at 27% ownership, middle-income at around 20%, and lower-income at 16%.
Pew’s political breakdown reports Republicans at 22% versus Democrats at 17% for the same January 2026 ATP survey.
JPMorgan Chase Institute’s median-income millennial breakdown shows Asian individuals at 27%, Black and Hispanic individuals approximately equal at 21%, and White individuals at 20%.
Crypto use among White Americans climbed from 13% in 2021 to 18% in 2026, per Pew.

Demographic Cut	Ownership Rate (Pew Jan 2026)
Asian	25%
White	18-20%
Hispanic	18-20%
Black	18-20%
Upper income	27%
Middle income	20%
Lower income	16%
Republicans	22%
Democrats	17%

Source: Pew Research Center, January 2026; JPMorgan Chase Institute.

Generational Use Cases: Invest, Pay, Transfer

The Federal Reserve’s SHED 2024 splits active use into 7% of adults investing, 2% paying, and 1% transferring to friends or family in the prior 12 months.
Among adults using crypto for transactions, SHED cites the receiver preferring cryptocurrency at 35%, speed advantages at 18%, cost savings at 13%, safety concerns at 5%, and lack of trust in banks at 3% as the leading motivations.
Triple-A’s 2024 snapshot finds 65% of global crypto owners prefer crypto payments, a preference well ahead of revealed pay-with-crypto behavior in the US SHED data.
Motley Fool’s May 2026 survey reports 57% of current and former crypto holders cite cryptocurrency as an investment.

Investment dominates the use-case mix across every primary survey we tracked for this piece. The gap between stated preference and revealed pay-with-crypto behavior shows up in our crypto payment adoption by merchants data.

Top Coins Held by US Owners

Security.org’s 2026 report ranks the top holdings as Bitcoin at 74%, Ethereum at 53%, Dogecoin at 25%, and Solana at 20% among US crypto owners.
Crypto.com’s Market Sizing Report counts 365 million Bitcoin owners worldwide in 2025, representing 49.3% of global owners.
Ethereum owners reached 175 million globally in 2025, accounting for 23.6% of global owners, per Crypto.com.
Ethereum ownership grew 22.6% year over year, while Bitcoin owner counts rose 8.3% in the same Crypto.com data.

Bitcoin dominance carries over into self-custody wallet adoption, where the holder universe behind the top coins maps onto the same cohort distribution shown above.

Global Crypto Ownership Over Time

Crypto.com’s Market Sizing Report counts 741 million global crypto owners in 2025, up 12.4% from 659 million in 2024.
Bitcoin owners reached 365 million globally in 2025, an 8.3% increase from 337 million in 2024, and 49.3% of all owners, per the same report.
Ethereum grew 22.6% year over year to 175 million in 2025, accounting for 23.6% of global owners.
Triple-A’s 2024 snapshot estimates global digital currency ownership at 6.8% of the global population, with over 560 million owners.
Triple-A’s 2024 gender split places 61% of global owners as male and 39% as female.

The Crypto.com Market Sizing Report uses on-chain data with blended parameters; Triple-A blends country-weighted scoring with outlier research and primary collection. The two methodologies converge on the same directional finding: global owner counts are growing faster than traditional payment-method adoption, though the absolute headline figures differ because the underlying methodology differs.

Why Younger Generations Hold More Intent Than Ownership

Motley Fool’s May 2026 barrier survey finds 48% of non-owners say they do not know how to buy crypto.
The same Motley Fool survey reports 35% of non-owners say they do not know what they would do with crypto.
Gallup’s June 2025 data shows just 4% of Americans say they probably will buy bitcoin or another cryptocurrency in the near future, 17% are intrigued but not planning to buy soon, and 60% say they have no interest in buying cryptocurrency.
Among investors specifically, Gallup reports ownership among investors rising to 17% in June 2025, up from 6% in 2021.
The aggregate pattern across Pew, Federal Reserve SHED, Security.org, Gallup, and Motley Fool is that stated intent in younger cohorts outpaces revealed ownership by a wide margin for Gen Z and millennials, and closes toward parity for boomers.

Worth noting: Motley Fool’s May 2026 survey reports 48% of non-owners say they do not know how to buy crypto and 35% say they do not know what they would do with it. Onboarding friction, not skepticism, dominates the barrier mix for Gen Z and millennials.

What age group owns the most crypto in the US?

The age 30-44 cohort leads US cryptocurrency ownership at 32%, per Security.org’s 2026 Cryptocurrency Annual Consumer Report. Pew’s January 2026 American Trends Panel pegs the 30-49 cohort at 28%, its closest equivalent bracket. Both surveys place the ownership peak in the 30-something to mid-50s band rather than among 18-29 readers commonly framed as the dominant cohort.

What percent of Gen Z owns crypto?

Pew’s January 2026 American Trends Panel puts ownership at 26% for ages 18-29, the closest US primary proxy for Gen Z. Stated intent runs much higher: Motley Fool’s May 2026 survey reports 49% of Gen Z respondents say they are likely to buy crypto in the next year. The intent-to-ownership gap is the widest of any generation.

Are boomers buying crypto?

JPMorgan Chase Institute’s de-identified banking data shows just 4% of baby boomers engaged with crypto through mid-2022, the lowest engagement rate across generations. Gallup’s June 2025 matrix puts men 50 and older at 12% ownership and women 50 and older at 9%, and Motley Fool’s May 2026 likely-to-buy intent for boomers is 11%, close to their revealed ownership rate.

Conclusion

The 30-44 age group makes up the largest share of US crypto owners at 32%, per Security.org’s report, anchoring three reconciled stories across the eight surveys covered: the 30-44 peak, the intent-vs-ownership wedge that widens for younger cohorts, and the lapsed-owner contraction that emerges when Federal Reserve SHED active-use and Security.org gross-ownership figures are read side by side. The demographic backbone combines Pew’s 8,512-respondent January 2026 sample, Federal Reserve SHED’s 2024 survey, and Crypto.com’s 741 million global owner headline for 2025.

The refresh cadence stays quarterly on Pew and the Crypto.com Market Sizing Report, and annual on the remaining sources; this piece sits alongside the broader crypto adoption by country. As fresh survey waves are published, the 30-44 peak and the intent-vs-ownership wedge are the two findings to watch most closely.