Off the books

About 4.4% of adults in Europe own cryptocurrency, and their profile is clear: younger than average, more often male, and more financially active. This probably confirms your stereotype. Interestingly, they are also much more likely to hold other investments, use online banking and keep cash reserves at home. They are diversifying savings, not replacing the financial system. This challenges the media narrative that crypto is becoming a new everyday currency. If that were happening, the use of payment would be much closer to ownership. Instead, only about 1 in 3 crypto owners appears to use it for payments. That is just 1% of the entire population. One reason may be practical: payment infrastructure is still limited. In many places, you cannot easily pay with crypto at normal shops, and the user experience is often poor. A second reason is behavioural: nobody appears to be using crypto because they need a payment alternative. Most owners already use cards and treat it as an asset rather than as money. The small group that does pay with it is drawn to its cash-like properties, like privacy and having no card trail. Crypto ownership is now large enough to matter, but its use for payments remains niche.