4 Alpha Research Researcher: 0xamuel
Recently, The Nakamoto Project released a research report on Bitcoin holders in the United States. The report analyzes the adoption of Bitcoin in the United States from three aspects: demographic characteristics, political inclinations, and moral foundations, aiming to explore other factors that may affect Bitcoin holdings and attitudes in addition to standard demographics.
Summary of key points
Young men are more likely to hold Bitcoin: Bitcoin holders are generally younger and more likely to be male, but they are similar to the U.S. population as a whole in other respects, such as race, ethnicity, income, education, and financial literacy.
Bitcoin holdings have nothing to do with political factors: Although attitudes towards Bitcoin vary significantly between political parties in the United States, The Nakamoto Project anticipates that this difference may lead to extreme outcomes, such that conservatives and liberals may be more willing to hold Bitcoin. However, the findings showed no significant relationship between Bitcoin holdings and political leanings. The number of Bitcoin holders in the United States is roughly the same across political backgrounds.
Values of Bitcoin Holders: The survey uses Moral Foundations Theory to analyze the values and identity of Bitcoin holders. The results show that Bitcoin holdings are not significantly correlated with specific moral foundations. In contrast, Bitcoin holdings are more influenced by the understanding of the concept of Bitcoin, the recognition of its protocols and assets, and the moral perception of Bitcoin.
Background
Despite Bitcoin’s popularity as a household name, information about who owns Bitcoin is relatively limited. While approximately 95% of Americans are aware of the concept of Bitcoin and approximately 1 in 7 Americans currently own Bitcoin, detailed data is still scarce.
Although other institutions have conducted similar research, these studies usually have some limitations, such as small sample size, too broad research scope or focusing on only a few indicators. In addition, most studies mainly discuss cryptocurrencies as a whole, rather than focusing on Bitcoin. Therefore, The Nakamoto Project focuses specifically on Bitcoin in this report and limits the scope of research to the United States.
To explore the popularity of Bitcoin in the United States, The Nakamoto Project partnered with Qualtrics to survey 3,538 adult Americans. The survey aims to collect demographic information, moral inclinations, and attitudes toward Bitcoin from respondents. Data collection was divided into two phases: the initial sample was collected in November 2023, containing a total of 3,022 respondents; the supplementary sample was collected in March 2024, adding 516 respondents, focusing on exploring the impact of Bitcoin ETFs on public perception.
Demographic characteristics analysis
Research by The Nakamoto Project found that the group of Bitcoin holders in the United States is very diverse. There were no significant differences between Bitcoin holders and non-holders in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, income, education level, or financial literacy. From a demographic perspective, the two groups perform similarly on most measures. However, Bitcoin holders differ significantly by age and gender: they tend to be younger and male.
The following figure shows the proportion of Bitcoin holders by gender and age. A survey by Block found that this gender imbalance is not very obvious in international samples and is only prominent in studies in the United States.
The impact of political leanings on Bitcoin holders
From a political perspective, there is no significant difference between Bitcoin holders and non-holders. Although Bitcoin has been criticized by all political factions since its inception, and has been particularly attacked by the political left in recent years, its strongest supporters tend to be Republicans and libertarians, which has led many people to mistakenly believe that Bitcoin is a a right-wing or libertarian phenomenon. As a result, many believe that Democrats or self-described liberals are less likely to own Bitcoin.
To measure the political leanings of Bitcoin holders, The Nakamoto Project designed five questions to explore respondents' overall political stance, social issues, economic issues, and self-positioning of their own political stance. Although respondents' responses to these questions varied, the results showed that the political distribution of Bitcoin holders was very similar to that of non-holders, with most people concentrated in the middle of the political spectrum. Compared with non-holders, Bitcoin holders are more likely to consider themselves to be in an extreme position, specifically more people consider themselves to be very liberal (+ 5.7%) or very conservative (+ 2.3%).
In order to make the political leanings of the respondents more clear, The Nakamoto Project asked the respondents to rate themselves on a scale of 1-10. The lower the score, the more liberal it is, and the conversely, the more conservative it is. Again like non-holders, Bitcoin holders are present across the spectrum, and are more likely to be present at the more extreme segments. But looking at the results, there is no significant difference between Bitcoin holders and non-holders on this scale. Surprisingly, respondents who describe themselves as very liberal are the most likely to own Bitcoin (21.9%), followed by very conservative (17.6%), while centrists are the least likely to own Bitcoin (14.3%).
The only significant difference is that libertarians are more likely to hold Bitcoin, although they make up a very small share of the overall respondent population (just 3%). Overall, the political distribution of Bitcoin holders is not significantly different from the overall U.S. population. Politicized statements about Bitcoin ownership by politicians, media elites, and social media users are often misleading, and Bitcoin ownership is not directly related to political factors.
The moral basis for Bitcoin holders
The Nakamoto Project hypothesized that moral foundations might predict whether to hold Bitcoin, and to test this hypothesis, they employed the Moral Foundations Theory. The theory proposes that although human moral reasoning is innate, it changes with learning. The theory originally proposed five core moral foundations: justice, care, loyalty, authority, and sanctity, and later added a sixth foundation - freedom. Different cultures and political ideologies place different emphasis on these foundations, and this difference can explain people's different moral and political tendencies. For example, liberals place more emphasis on justice and care, while conservatives place more equal emphasis on all six foundations.
In this survey, in order to clarify whether Bitcoin holders are more like liberals or conservatives in terms of moral foundation, The Nakamoto Project asked respondents to rate different statements from 1 to 7, with higher numbers indicating higher agreement. For example, one statement about "caring" is "Caring for people who are suffering is an important virtue." The results of the survey show that there are indeed some differences in the moral foundations of liberals and conservatives, but they are not as different as we have always thought, but are very similar.
Notably, Bitcoin holders present a unique profile of being more concerned with cultural freedom and equality; being on par with conservatives on sanctity and fidelity, on par with liberals on caring, and falling somewhere in between liberals and conservatives on economic freedom and authoritarianism.
Therefore, we can conclude that although Bitcoin holders do not fully conform to the traditional liberal or conservative classification on moral foundations, they are more inclined to liberal values, especially in terms of freedom and justice. At the same time, their positions on other moral foundations are between liberals and conservatives, which shows that Bitcoin holders have unique diversity and complexity in their moral orientation.
Key factors affecting Bitcoin holdings
Although demographic characteristics, political leanings, and moral foundations have little to do with whether a person holds Bitcoin, the survey found four key perceptions that significantly affect whether a person holds Bitcoin:
Trust in the technology underlying Bitcoin: including trust in its security and accuracy.
Knowledge of Bitcoin: This includes current understanding of Bitcoin and level of attention paid to Bitcoin news.
Bitcoin's usefulness: Belief in Bitcoin's usefulness in everyday transactions or as an investment.
Moral perception of Bitcoin: believes that Bitcoin technology and users are ethical and believes that Bitcoin can improve society.
Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with these cognition-related statements. For example, the statement targeting trust was "I believe that the blockchain is 100% accurate." The survey results showed that there were clear differences between Bitcoin holders and non-holders in these aspects. Bitcoin holders generally have more confidence in its technology and believe that Bitcoin is morally positive. Non-holders, on the other hand, expressed distrust or neutral attitudes.
These cognitive factors are key to the decision of whether to hold Bitcoin. Understanding Bitcoin technology increases trust in its network, which in turn leads to belief in its practicality and awareness of its possible social benefits. These factors may motivate individuals to buy or invest in Bitcoin. Conversely, it may also be that individuals first buy Bitcoin and view it as an investment, and as its value grows, their interest in the technology behind Bitcoin increases, and they become more convinced of its practicality and morality. Although it is impossible to determine which path leads to this cognitive change, the overall effect is positive and the causal relationship may be bidirectional.
in conclusion
In the past, people often thought that the political leanings of Bitcoin holders affected their choices. However, the survey shows that there is no obvious bias in the political stance of Bitcoin holders. Whether liberal, conservative or centrist, there are Bitcoin holders among all groups. The only significant demographic difference is that Bitcoin holders are younger and predominantly male.
Research shows that Bitcoin ownership is not related to a specific social or political identity, but is closely related to an individual's level of knowledge and understanding of Bitcoin. Bitcoin holders tend to be those who have a deep understanding of the technology and believe that it has practical uses, is trustworthy, and is morally acceptable. This positive attitude drives them to hold Bitcoin, rather than simple political or social identity.
Ultimately, this suggests that Bitcoin adoption is not limited to a particular political faction or social group, but is driven by individual understanding and acceptance of the technology. This also means that Bitcoin's future potential depends on the public's perception of its value and use, rather than political divisions.
