Fed: Roughly One in 10 Americans Using Crypto, BNPL

The Fed survey asked questions about cryptocurrencies for the first time and found that 12% of adults had held or used crypto in the prior year—with almost all of these using it as an investment vehicle, not a form of payment. Crypto holders tended to be higher-income, with 46% of those using it as an investment earning over $100,000 per year. Ninety-nine percent of crypto investors also had bank accounts, but of those who used crypto for transactions, 13% reported being unbanked.

Also for the first time, the survey covered the growth of “buy now pay later” loans, which 10% of respondents reported using in the prior year. Nearly 8 in 10 BNPL borrowers cited convenience as one reason, while 53% said they used BNPL because they did not want to use a credit card, 51% said it was the only way they could afford the purchase and just under one-fifth said it was the only payment method they had. Among BNPL borrowers, just 15% had been late making a payment in the prior year. Read the survey report.