The young and the thrifty buy less crypto
People who are struggling to make ends meet are significantly more likely to buy cryptocurrency to make payments than as a way to make money.
In PYMNTS’ recent report, “Paying with cryptocurrency: Can crypto at checkout become a profit center for merchants?” — a partnership with BitPay — more than 43% of respondents who described themselves as struggling paycheck to paycheck said payment was their main motivation.
This decreased as the respondents’ financial lifestyle improved.
Less than a third (32%) of those comfortably living paycheck to paycheck and only 23% of those not living paycheck to paycheck chose pay as their main motivation.
Still, given that payments with crypto in stores and online are still quite uncommon, it’s pretty clear that many people in all three income brackets are going to see cryptocurrencies as a payment method.
On the other hand, only 36% of the financially tightest group said buying crypto was an investment, compared to 51% of the comfortable group and 59% of the better off. All three groups indicate “fear of missing out” at about 15%.
The first group, who live paycheck to paycheck with difficulty, were also significantly more likely to buy cryptocurrency in the coming year, with 38% saying they are either very or extremely likely to do so. This is compared to 22% of those who comfortably live paycheck to paycheck and 17% of those who do not live paycheck to paycheck.
Interestingly, these numbers didn’t match up very well when respondents were broken down by income rather than financial lifestyle.
In the wealthiest demographic, those earning more than $100,000, 33% were very or extremely likely to buy crypto in the next year. That grew to 27% for those making $50,000 to $100,000, but then fell sharply, to just 15%, for those making less than $50,000. Which suggests that living on a budget isn’t the same as living on a low budget.
With one exception, when looking at crypto purchases by age group it was more or less what you’d expect. The very and extremely likely group was minimal for boomers and seniors (7%) and gradually grew larger as the demographic got younger: Gen X 28%, Bridge Millennials 38%, Millennials 42%.
But then something interesting happens.
Generation Z, the group generally considered to be the most comfortable with and educated about cryptocurrencies, took a big dive, coming in slightly below Gen X with 27% very and extremely likely to buy digital assets in the next year. One possible reason that comes to mind is that Gen Z is also the group with the lowest disposable income.
NEW PYMNTS SURVEY FINDS 3 IN 4 CONSUMERS WITH STRONG DEMAND FOR SUPER APPS
About: The findings of PYMNTS’ new study, “The Super App Shift: How Consumers Want To Save, Shop And Spend In The Connected Economy”, a collaboration with PayPal, analyzed the responses of 9,904 consumers in Australia, Germany, the UK and the US and showed strong demand for a single multi-functional super app instead of using dozens of individuals.
