CNBC and Acorns Invest In You: Nextgen Investor Survey recently found that a gender gap exists within cryptocurrency trading. The survey was conducted in partnership with Momentive and was published on August 30th 2021.
The survey revealed that twice as many men, as women, invest in cryptocurrency despite crypto’s aims to increase trader diversity.
This gender gap exceeds the existing gap in traditional investments such as ETFs, stocks, mutual funds and real estate. Even though cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin have been promoted in a way that aims to democratise the finance field and increase investor diversity.
16% of men invest in cryptocurrency compared to only 7% of women. While cryptocurrency may be a 21st century financial tool, it seems to have a very old fashioned problem. Throughout history, women have lagged behind men in investment fields. The gender gap in crypto is bigger than those that already exist in traditional investments such as mutual funds (30% men, 20% women), stocks (40% men, 24% women) and real estate (36% men, 30% women).
The Invest In You: Nextgen Investor Survey was conducted at the beginning of August 2021. 5530 US adults participated, 2980 of which held investments in stocks, bonds, ETFs of cryptocurrency.
Investing and gender
The gender gap is no new phenomenon and is something that has flooded the financial industry for years. However, cryptocurrencies have been promoted in a way that aims to break down this gender gap and democratise the financial field, encouraging a more diverse range of investors into the marketplace.
In the US, around 1 in 10 (11%) people invest in cryptocurrency however, so far the financial tool has not been able to reach the demographic group of women. However, the asset has been able to increase diversity in other demographics.
Despite the gender gap that exists, crypto is managing to increase diversity among its traders. It is the only financial vertical that has a higher trading rate among younger adults than older adults. 15% of 18-34-year-olds own cryptocurrencies compared to 11% of 35-64-year-olds and only 4% of those over the age of 65.
Another great win for cryptocurrency is that the asset is traded equally by all races. 11% of White people are likely to own cryptocurrency along with 11% of Blacks, 10% of Hispanics and 14% of Asians. While this is certainly an excellent step forward for investing, for complete trading equality, the gender gap must be broken down.
Black women currently face the biggest investing barriers. Finance has a history of excluding women, especially those from minority backgrounds. For years, women could not take out a loan, get a mortgage or even use a credit card without a male accompanying them. These barriers were even worse for black women, who faced racial discrimination along with gender bias. Many of these old-fashioned ideologies still seem to trickle through the world of investing today.
While cryptocurrency is certainly paving the way for more diversity, it is important that work is done to encourage women, especially Black women, to get involved with investing. It is important that these gaps are broken down before they grow bigger and create an unequal financial vertical.
