Quarter of Aussies plan to buy digital assets in next 12 months: YouGov & Swyftx
More than a quarter (26%) of Australians are likely to buy digital assets over the next 12 months despite the onset of the crypto winter, new research shows.
Around one million Aussies are expected to buy digital assets for the first time in the next 12 months, with Millennials and Gen Zs the most likely to buy crypto, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by Swyftx.
Crypto adoption rates in the country increased by four percentage points over the last 12 months, with 29% of Australian adults saying they own (21%) or have owned crypto in the past (8%). Lack of effective regulation remains the key barrier to market entry among non-crypto users.
The findings from the second annual Swyftx Cryptocurrency Survey come amid ongoing volatility in both global equity and digital asset markets, with the ASX falling around 8% over the last 12 months and some USD $2tn being wiped off the value of global cryptocurrency markets.
Swyftx Head of Strategic Partnerships, Tommy Honan, said, “This is the first real sign that Australians are looking to a future beyond the crypto winter. Even in the midst of a bear market, there’s belief in the fundamentals of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, and this is manifesting itself in a high intention to buy digital assets among under 50s.
“But the crypto winter has taken a toll, with trust in digital assets in the country falling as a result of the failure of some big crypto projects.”
The YouGov survey shows that 42% of millennials are likely to buy digital assets over the next 12 months. Gen Zs are the next most likely generation to indicate they will buy crypto (34%).
In total, 41% of Australian adults say they are likely to buy stocks in the next 12 months and 26% say they are likely to buy digital assets.
But among those who do not own cryptocurrency, the current bear market has shaken confidence. Just over six in ten (61%) indicated that they have not purchased crypto due to a general lack of trust in the asset class – up three percentage points on last year’s survey. The most popular reason (43%) given among Australians for not buying crypto is that respondents did not feel it was well regulated.
This year’s survey of 2,609 Australian adults research was commissioned by Australia’s top-rated digital asset exchange, Swyftx.
More than half (53%) of respondents reported using digital assets to purchase goods and services in Australia last year, a ten percentage point increase on last year’s survey.
“It’s interesting to see such a significant uptick in the number of Aussies using crypto to shop online because it speaks to where the future of digital assets almost certainly belongs,” said Honan.
“Over the next five to ten years, we expect to see far fewer cryptocurrencies and far less market volatility. Digital assets and traditional finance likely will become indistinguishable from one another.”
