Is
Crypto Male-Dominated?
A twenty-first-century
financial instrument cryptocurrency has a twentieth-century problem: a
lack of women. According to CNBC and Acorn's Invest in You the Next Gen
Investor poll which was done in association with Momentive; men twice than
women invested in bitcoin i.e.,16 per cent of males vs. 7% of women.
Women
are lagging behind men in bitcoin investment, as they have in other traditional
financial fields. In fact, the gender gap in crypto is more than the gender
gaps in exchange-traded funds (14% of men and 7% of women), individual stocks
(40% of men and 24% of women), mutual funds (30% of men and 20% of women), real
estate (36% of men and 30% of women), and bonds (36% of men and 30% of women)
(14 per cent of men and 11 per cent of women).
Momentive,
previously SurveyMonkey, conducted a study for CNBC and Acorns from August 4 to
9, 2021, among more than 5,530 adults in the United States, 2,980 of them have
investments in financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs,
or cryptocurrencies.
‘Democratizing’
investing and gender
For
decades, gender disparities have plagued the financial services business, but
cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and dogecoin have been promoted as a
way to democratise a previously closed-off field, letting new and more diverse
investors into the fold. Only about one in ten Americans (11%) invests in
cryptocurrencies, but the business has failed to gain traction among the
crucial demographic of women.
That's
especially perplexing given bitcoin is, in many other ways, delivering on its
promise of levelling the playing field. Crypto is the only financial tool in
which young people have high participation rate than the other ones. 15% of people
aged 18 to 34 have invested in cryptocurrencies, compared to 11% of those aged between
35 and 64 and 4% of those aged 65 and beyond.
Younger
individuals are more bullish and knowledgeable about cryptocurrency
An
intriguing fact is that people of all races hold roughly equal cryptocurrency:
11% of whites, 11% of Blacks, 10% of Hispanics, 14% of Asians, and 13% of people
of another race have invested in bitcoin. Despite the fact that bitcoin has
broken down barriers in investing on the basis of race, it has not to be done on
the basis of gender.
Black
women suffer the most difficulties when it comes to investing.
Women
and people of colour have long been marginalised in personal finance and the
financial sector in general. For decades, women could not take out a loan, sign
a mortgage, or even own a credit card without a male co-signer. People of
colour were also affected by discrimination and institutional barriers to
investment.
These
acts of discrimination have left an everlasting impression on history books.
According to the latest study, Black women are half as likely as Black men to
own real estate, one-third as likely as white women, and one-fourth as likely
as white men to own real estate.
Similarly,
only 51% of Black women, compared to 63 per cent of Black men, 71 per cent of
white women, and 78 per cent of white men, say they hold a traditional checking
account.
Percentage of
people by gender and race who possess various forms of investments - bar chart
At
the same time, Black women have the highest rates of educational debt than
any other people, 30% of Black women, compared to only 17% of Black men,
16% of white women, and 13% of white men, have student debt.
As
a still-evolving sector, cryptocurrency is well-positioned to avoid many of the
discriminatory issues that the traditional financial world has instilled
through time. Today's would-be investors have more tools at their disposal,
such as social media platforms, online training, and targeted marketing, to
entice consumers to try new or traditional investment strategies.
Demographics
as financial destiny
Black
women may feel they are kept out of the investment world if they are not given access
to more traditional financial products. Although women of all races are equally
likely to state that no one ever taught them how to invest (28 per cent of all
women), Black and Hispanic women have invested at lower rates than white women.
Demographics
of different investors - bar chart
Whites
still make up the bulk of the crypto industry, despite the fact that
individuals of colour are investing in cryptocurrency at higher rates than they
do in other financial areas. More than half of bitcoin investors (62%) are
white, 67 per cent are men, and 66 per cent are under 45 years old.
When
compared to persons who invest in mutual funds, for example, who are 80 per
cent white, 58 per cent male, and 75 per cent 45 and older, this is a more
diversified population.
When
gender and ethnicity are factored in, bitcoin resembles some of the more staid
financial verticals: only 19 per cent of cryptocurrency investors are white
women, and only 4% are Black women. Due to the lack of diversity among bitcoin
investors, large sections of the public are missing out on the chance to invest.