Portrait of American Bitcoin holders: Tends to be young and male, regardless of political leanings

Original title: "Understanding the Portrait of American Bitcoin Holders in One Article: In-depth Analysis of Demographics, Politics and Morals"

Original author: 0xamuel, 4Alpha Research

Recently, The Nakamoto Project released a research report on American Bitcoin holders. 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.

Key Points

· Young men are more likely to hold Bitcoin: Bitcoin holders are generally younger and more male, but in other aspects, such as race, ethnicity, income, education, and financial literacy, they are similar to the overall US population.

· Bitcoin holdings are not related to political factors:Although the attitudes of different political parties in the United States towards Bitcoin vary significantly, The Nakamoto Project expects that such differences may lead to extreme results, such as conservatives and liberals may be more willing to hold Bitcoin. However, the survey results show that there is no significant relationship between Bitcoin holdings and political inclinations. The number of Bitcoin holders in the United States is basically the same across different political backgrounds.

· Bitcoin holders' values: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 protocol and assets, and the moral perception of Bitcoin.

Research Background

Although Bitcoin has become a household name, information about Bitcoin holders is relatively limited. Although about 95% of Americans are aware of the concept of Bitcoin and about 1/7 of 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 sizes, too broad research scope, or focus 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 was designed to collect demographic information about respondents, their moral inclinations, and their attitudes toward Bitcoin. Data was collected in two phases: an initial sample was collected in November 2023, containing a total of 3,022 respondents; a supplemental sample was collected in March 2024, adding 516 respondents, focusing on exploring the impact of Bitcoin ETFs on public perception.

Demographic Characteristics Analysis

The Nakamoto Project's research found that the group of Bitcoin holders in the United States is very diverse. There are 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 indicators. However, Bitcoin holders differ significantly in 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 less obvious in international samples and is only prominent in studies in the United States.

The impact of political orientation on Bitcoin holders

From a political perspective, Bitcoin holders do not differ significantly from non-holders. Although Bitcoin has been criticized by all political factions since its inception, it has been particularly attacked by the political left in recent years, and its strongest supporters tend to be Republicans and libertarians, which has led many people to mistakenly believe that Bitcoin is a right-wing or libertarian phenomenon. As a result, many people believe that Democrats or people who call themselves 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 their own political stance. Although respondents' answers to these questions vary, the results show that the political distribution of Bitcoin holders is 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%).

To better identify the political leanings of the respondents, The Nakamoto Project asked respondents to rate themselves on a scale of 1-10, with lower scores representing more liberal and higher scores representing more conservative. Again, like non-holders, Bitcoin holders appear at all scales and are more likely to appear at the more extreme end of the scale. But as far as the results are concerned, there is no significant difference between Bitcoin holders and non-holders on this scale. Surprisingly, respondents who describe themselves as very liberal are most likely to own Bitcoin (21.9%), followed by very conservatives (17.6%), while centrists have the lowest percentage of Bitcoin holders (14.3%).

The only significant difference is that libertarians are more likely to own Bitcoin, even though they make up a very small proportion of the total respondents (only 3%). Overall, the political distribution of Bitcoin holders is not significantly different from the overall US population. Politicized statements by politicians, media elites, and social media users regarding Bitcoin ownership are often misleading, and Bitcoin ownership is not directly related to political factors.

Association of Moral Foundations with Bitcoin Owners

The Nakamoto Project hypothesized that moral foundations might predict Bitcoin ownership, and to test this hypothesis, they employed Moral Foundations Theory. The theory proposes that human moral reasoning, while innate, changes as it is learned. The theory originally proposed five core moral foundations: justice, caring, loyalty, authority, and sanctity, and later added a sixth foundation - liberty. Different cultures and political ideologies place different emphasis on these foundations, and this difference can explain different moral and political tendencies among people. For example, liberals place more emphasis on justice and caring, while conservatives place more equal emphasis on all six foundations.

In this survey, in order to clarify whether Bitcoin holders are more similar to 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 survey results show that there are indeed some differences in moral foundations between liberals and conservatives, but they are not as huge as we have always thought. Instead, they are very similar.

It is worth noting that Bitcoin holders present a unique characteristic, that is, they pay more attention to cultural freedom and equality; they are comparable to conservatives in holiness and loyalty, comparable to liberals in caring, and between liberals and conservatives in economic freedom and authoritarianism.

Thus, we can conclude that while Bitcoin holders do not fully fit into the traditional liberal or conservative classifications on moral foundations, they are more inclined toward 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 orientations.

Key Factors Affecting Bitcoin Holding

Although demographic characteristics, political orientation, and moral foundations have little to do with whether or not to hold Bitcoin, the survey found that four key cognitions significantly affect whether a person holds Bitcoin:

1. Trust in Bitcoin's underlying technology:Including trust in its security and accuracy.

2. Knowledge of Bitcoin:Including current understanding of Bitcoin and the degree of attention paid to Bitcoin news.

3. Practicality of Bitcoin:Belief in the practicality of Bitcoin in daily transactions or investments.

4. Moral perception of Bitcoin:Belief that Bitcoin technology and users are ethical and that Bitcoin can improve society.

Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with these cognitive-related statements. For example, the statement targeting trust was "I believe that blockchain is 100% accurate." The survey results showed that there were significant 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, show distrust or neutral attitudes.

These cognitive factors are key to deciding whether to hold Bitcoin. Understanding Bitcoin technology will increase trust in its network, which in turn will lead 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 could also be that individuals first purchase Bitcoin and view it as an investment, and as its value grows, their interest in the technology behind Bitcoin increases, leading to a greater appreciation of its practicality and morality. While it is not possible to determine which path leads to this change in perception, the overall effect is positive and causality is likely bidirectional.

Conclusion

In the past, it was often assumed that the political leanings of Bitcoin holders influenced their choices, but surveys show that there is no clear bias in the political stance of Bitcoin holders. Bitcoin holders exist in all groups, whether liberal, conservative, or centrist. The only significant demographic difference is that Bitcoin holders are younger and predominantly male.

The study shows that Bitcoin ownership is not associated with a specific social or political identity, but is closely related to an individual's level of knowledge and perception 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 shows that Bitcoin's popularity is not limited to a specific political faction or social group, but is driven by an individual's understanding and acceptance of the technology. This also means that Bitcoin's future development potential depends on the public's perception of its value and use, rather than political divisions.

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