- 41%of holders send crypto to friends and family.
- 40%use crypto to shop and pay.
- 54%say it has increased their financial independence.
Today, one in four American adults owns cryptocurrency, over 67 million people, up from one in five just last year.
Crypto is no longer being seen as just an investment: 41% of holders send crypto to friends and family, 40% use crypto to shop and pay, and 54% say crypto has increased their financial independence. People are donating crypto to causes they care about, paying their employees, and powering their businesses and passions.
The people behind these numbers are parents, construction workers, small business owners, and retirees making shared financial decisions. They span every income bracket, region, and industry, from retail to ranching. And they are increasingly using crypto for the same reasons they use any other tool: because it works for their needs.
Every transformative technology follows a similar arc. First comes curiosity, then skepticism, and eventually something quieter: normalization. We saw it with the internet, with smartphones, with AI. Cryptocurrency is entering that phase now.
This year's study also found an important shift in trust: 69% of holders trust crypto, while 65% trust traditional banking. This doesn't mean that people are abandoning banks — in fact, crypto and traditional finance are collaborating more than ever — but it does show that familiarity with crypto is building real confidence in the technology.
Nearly one in three holders say the most positive shift in how they view crypto came from seeing the tech integrate into systems they already trust, such as PayPal, Visa, and banks. When familiar institutions participate, the technology feels more familiar.
The 2026 State of Crypto Holders Report, based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. crypto holders conducted by NCA with The Harris Poll, captures this transition. More people are using crypto, doing so more often, and for increasingly ordinary reasons.
The research was conducted online in the US by The Harris Poll on behalf of The National Cryptocurrency Association among 10,000 Cryptocurrency holders. The survey was conducted February 12—March 3, 2026.
The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within ± 0.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.