Study: how willing are women to invest in crypto?

Jana Hlistova

Mar 17, 2024

Welcome to our #228 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on a recent study in Norway which suggests that traditional gender patterns and stereotypes in financial investments persist in the crypto sector: men are more than twice as likely to invest in cryptocurrencies compared to women.

However, this highlights a need (and an opportunity) for further education and support for women regarding crypto and how to invest.

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And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Study: how willing are women to invest in crypto?

Despite the initial promise of gender equality in cryptocurrency investment, significant disparities persist 15 years after Bitcoin's introduction.

A recent study conducted in Norway, a country known for its advanced gender equality, shows that men are more than twice as likely to invest in cryptocurrencies compared to women.

However, this highlights a need for further education and support for women regarding crypto and how to invest.

As we are at the start of the next crypto bull market (until the end of 2025 or early 2026), women have an opportunity to start learning about crypto, develop their investing skills and grow their net worth.

Here are some key crypto stats (UK)

11% of Brits (5.6m people) have invested in cryptocurrency as of 2024.
Two-thirds (66%) of Brits who have invested in cryptocurrency are men, while around a third (34%) are women.
9% of UK millennials have invested in cryptocurrency.
70% of crypto investors are aged between 18 and 44. Almost half (47%) of Brits who invested in cryptocurrency bought Bitcoin.
In 2024 (UK), around 1 in 7 men (14.5%) have invested in cryptocurrencies at some point in their lives compared to around 1 in 15 women (7%).

For context, research published in 2021…

…by Gemini (UK) suggests that investing in crypto is becoming more diverse, and specifically women are engaging as investors.

Out of the 13.5% of 2,000 respondents that are current or previous cryptocurrency investor, 41.6% were women. This represents a significant shift where women made up just 21%–22% of crypto investors.

And even though only 15% of Bitcoin traders were women, this was up from 10% in 2020.

Study Overview

The research, published in Psychology & Marketing, aimed to understand the attitudes towards cryptocurrency investments among adults in Norway, focusing on gender, financial knowledge, and personality traits.
Findings reveal a low overall willingness to invest in digital currencies, with a marked gender difference: 12.5% of men vs. 5.6% of women.

Psychological Mechanisms and Personality Traits

Researchers investigated the influence of psychological mechanisms and personality traits on the willingness to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Key traits examined included financial self-efficacy, overconfidence, emotional stability, extroversion, curiosity, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
Notable gender differences: men demonstrated higher ‘financial mastery’ and women displayed greater overconfidence.

Gender Differences in Personality Traits

Gender differences extended to other personality traits: men were found to be less social, agreeable, and conscientious but scored higher on emotional stability.
These findings align with other research on personality traits.

Impact on Investment Willingness

Financial overconfidence, more prevalent among women, correlated with a higher willingness to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Conversely, men, scoring higher in financial mastery and lower in agreeableness and conscientiousness, showed a more positive attitude towards cryptocurrency investments.

Implications and Actions

The study suggests that traditional gender patterns and stereotypes in financial investments persist in the cryptocurrency sector.
It highlights a need for further education and support for women regarding cryptocurrency investments.

Reference

Nyhus et al., "Crypto cravings: Gender differences in crypto investment intentions and the mediating roles of financial overconfidence and personality," Psychology & Marketing, 2023. DOI: 10.1002/mar.21921

What next? (Re) listen to The Purse Podcast:

#45: Why women need to design, build and invest in crypto and Web 3.0 with Fiona O'Donnell McCarthy

Financial news

Money-market fund assets rose to a fresh record high on expectations short-term rates will remain elevated for longer. Total assets rose to $6.108trn from $6.077trn the week prior.
US 10 year yields jump almost 10bps to 4.29% after another inflation disappointment. Producer Prices for Feb ran hot, w/headline +1.6% YoY, up from +1% in January and above the consensus forecast of 1.2%.
It looks like the markets (at least the option markets) perceive inflation as more sticky than the Fed.
Looks as if retail investors shifting from gold to bitcoin. Bitcoin funds saw an inflow of $10.6bn YTD vs. an outflow of $7.6bn for physical gold ETFs. But, according to JP Morgan, this outflow trend does not reflect an aversion to Gold by private investors such as individuals & family offices but rather an instrument shift away from physical Gold ETFs to bars & coins.
Nvidia posts 10th straight weekly gain, longest on record, BBG has calculated. The chipmaker rose 0.4% this week. The stock has gained nearly 80% over the 10-week rally.
Reddit aiming for $6.5bn valuation from New York flotation. Company plans to raise up to $748m from sale of 22m shares, some of which have been set aside for users.
Tackling inequality vital for next century of growth, IMF head says. Kristalina Georgieva invokes John Maynard Keynes as she says fostering fairer economy would raise living standards ninefold.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

Monday: Bitcoin topped $72,000 for the first time and on Thursday morning Bitcoin nearly touched $74,000, surpassing the market cap ($1.4trn+) of silver. The cryptocurrency has surged amid strong demand and ahead of its halving event in April. Bitcoin will 'eat' gold, MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor says.
Bitcoin retreated from its latest record high amid intensifying debate about whether the latest bull run in cryptocurrencies is evidence of speculative froth in global markets. Bitcoin has dropped below $66,000, down 11% from ATH.
Bitcoin’s tumultuous Thursday apparently caught traders unawares, with the token’s sudden plunge triggering nearly $300m worth of BTC-specific liquidations in 24 hours, and over $800m worth of liquidations across the broader crypto market.
Ethereum plummeted off yesterday’s dim inflation news, to $3,457 at writing. In a trend parallel to that of BTC, more than $100m worth of ETH long positions were liquidated in the aftermath, along with over $30m worth of short positions on the token.
Layer 2 blockchains become cheaper after ethereum's Dencun upgrade. The upgrade allows layer 2 solutions to store data in "blobs" instead of the expensive call data.
The Solana price marked new yearly highs at $197.95. Currently, the price has dropped below $190 but has sustained within the key-resistance levels between $175 and $196.28. Until the SOL price sustains within the range, the traders may remain bullish on Solana, which may smash a new ATH above $300 very soon.
SHIB has witnessed a decent downturn this past week, shedding 21% of its value, despite a 26.8% increase in the preceding two weeks and a 177% upswing over the last month.
‘Maybe I should buy some Bitcoin’, Bill Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, sparked a lively discussion within the cryptocurrency community with a hypothetical scenario where the price of Bitcoin could escalate dramatically.

Coffee Break? Read This

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka. We do no provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.