22% of U.S. Adults Have Tried Crypto, but Past‑Year Usage Remains Flat at 13%

A national Ipsos survey for the DeFi Education Fund found that 22% of U.S. adults have ever owned or used cryptocurrency, up from 18% in 2025. However, the share of adults who used crypto in the past 12 months held steady at 13%, with growth driven almost entirely by people who had previously used it but had since stopped. Only 17% say they are likely to own or use crypto in the future, unchanged from last year. Men are more than twice as likely as women to have used crypto in the past year (18% vs. 8%), and adults under 60 are more likely than older adults. Curiosity (34%) and long‑term investment (25%) are the top reasons people tried crypto. Trust remains low: only 4% have high trust in crypto exchanges, 5% in decentralized platforms, and 19% believe the traditional financial system is secure, while 63% say it needs an upgrade to counter AI and cybercrime. The survey polled 1,545 adults from September 8–16 with a margin of error of ±2.8 percentage points.