How and why consumers buy cryptoassets

Financial Conduct Authority

Summary

This research for the Financial Conduct Authority – the first in the UK exploring consumers’ behaviours and attitudes towards cryptoassets – found that many people saw buying cryptocurrencies as a way to ‘get rich quick’.

They tended to distrust mainstream media, basing their purchasing decisions on recommendations from friends or social media and tended to overestimate their knowledge of cryptoassets.

Detail

Interest in cyptoassets has been growing rapidly over the past few years and despite a decline in the market in 2018, many people still hold or buy cryptoassets. Regulation of cryptoassets in complex and evolving, and although there has been a great deal of research and debate on the topic there was a gap in research to understand the experience of purchasing cryptoassets from a consumer perspective.

Our research aimed to capture that consumer perspective, and this report explores the attitudes, understanding, motivations and beliefs that underpin people’s decisions to buy assets in this new and fast-changing landscape, as well as the information and individuals that influence them. It describes what their experiences have been, what their purchases and portfolios look like and considers how these relate to wider trends.