The real deal is that crypto has actually seeped into the public in America with some vendors, even in relatively smaller cities, accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment.
The American dream is slowly transitioning into the crypto dream, and we are all for it. With the United States acting as the flagbearer for crypto industries all around the world, it is not rare to be curious about the general use of crypto tokens by the people of this nation. Does cryptocurrency feature in their lives as much as we think? Well, Let’s dig in and find out!
Top-notch Availability Is the Key
To understand how often people invest in Bitcoin, it is important to talk about how easily one can enter the world of blockchain. Besides the stellar 5G networks of AT&T, and Verizon that span the entirety of the United States, many general stores have now installed Bitcoin ATMs for people to use while buying their daily eggs! If that is not cool, I don’t know what is.
Imagine waking up to find no milk in the refrigerator, taking a small detour to the nearest Walmart in your pajamas, and ending up buying a Bitcoin! That is how easy it is for people to access cryptocurrency. There are, at present, more than 50,000 Bitcoin ATMs in the United States, and they will only increase in number. So when we talk about how often people actually invest in crypto in the US, it is definitely a significant number.
What Does the Data Say?
Now, to quote some statistics, around 46 million Americans ( which makes up for 22% of the entire adult population) hold some share of Bitcoin. The major chunk of blockchain involvement is seen in millennial parents, with around 29% percent of them possessing a cryptocurrency. What is more interesting is that almost 51% of the people holding cryptocurrency in May 2021 purchased the asset within the past year. This also reflects the fact that most Americans began using cryptocurrency only after the pandemic hit their regular mode of payment.
In a Fed report disclosed in May 2022, it was stated that over six million Americans used cryptocurrency as a payment method in the past year. What’s more interesting, is that the users who actually did pay using crypto belonged to a comparatively lower income section of society.
A Tangent You Probably Didn’t Know
While Bitcoin basks in its glory of spreading to a major population in the United States, here is one use you might have never heard of. Bitcoin has turned out to be a much safer method to earn and pay for the homeless in the United States. There have been instances of several people on the streets earning their daily ‘bitcoin’ for food using sites like BitcoinGet and BitcoinTapper.
These sites let you earn a fraction of the Bitcoin by watching a few advertisements on Youtube. Homeless people who occasionally have access to a mobile phone and wifi utilize this opportunity to earn their extra bit through these apps. They might not have a bank account, but they do have Bitcoin wallets for daily use.
So What’s the Real Deal?
The real deal is that crypto has actually seeped into the public in America with several vendors, even in relatively smaller cities, accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. According to an estimate, the number of adults in the United States who use cryptocurrencies for payments will skyrocket by double digits through 2023.
All this is a consequence of not only the crypto hype but external factors like the pandemic, that made conventional forms of payment obsolete. People can now easily access and use cryptocurrencies from applications that were already in use before. When the internal economy of the country is unstable, people usually look towards alternative places of investment that give returns. Bitcoins have proven to be just that.
Sanaa is a chemistry major and a Blockchain enthusiast. As a science student, her research skills enable her to understand the intricacies of Financial Markets. She believes that Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize every industry in the world.