Two Million UK Residents Now Hold Cryptoassets

Nearly two million Brits hold cryptocurrency assets, according to new research by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Some 3.86% of the population own cryptocurrencies, assuming there’s around 50 million adults in the UK, double the number who held the assets last year.

According to the report authors, “technical knowledge appears high among most cryptocurrency owners”.

“Of those who purchase cryptoassets, 83% do so through non-UK based exchanges,” they added.

FCA spokesman Sheldon Mills said: “This FCA report reveals the increasing popularity of cryptoassets among the UK consumer population and underlines the importance of our work to gain a deeper understanding of this market and how people interact with these assets.”

The number of people holding cryptoassets marks a 1.1 million increase since the FCA held face-to-face surveys on the same topic last year.

The most popular coin held was Bitcoin, held by 63% of investors, followed by Ether (33%), Litecoin (22%), Dai (6%) and Tether (3%).

Somewhat alarmingly some 11% of the 2,188 people surveyed for the report believed they would receive the same protections from the UK Government as they would with regulated investment products.

Mr Mills added: “Cryptoassets present risks and opportunities for consumers and we hope these insights will help inform the policy debate in the UK and internationally as the use of these assets continue to grow.”

Other interesting statistics to come out of the report include:

8% of cryptoasset holders used borrowed money to purchase the currency.

46% store their coins on the exchange they bought them from.

75% holding less than £1,000 worth of coins.

The FCA regulates the financial services industry in the UK, protects consumers and aims to keep the industry stable.

You can read the full research note here.

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