IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:
- 90%of holders plan to buy more crypto.
- 72%of holders plan to spend it.
- 65%of holders plan to send it to friends and family.
These are not hypothetical interests. They come from people who are already using crypto and plan to do more of it.
The market outlook reflects the same confidence. 82% of holders expect the overall crypto market to increase in the next 5 years, with 41% expecting a significant increase.
WHERE HOLDERS WANT TO SPEND TELLS ITS OWN STORY.
These are high-frequency environments, the places people go every week. And they are exactly where habits form.
As crypto moves into everyday commerce, we'll see emerging trends where you'd expect: grocery stores, gas stations, coffee shops — where everyday payment habits form.
The pieces are lining up.
Holders want to spend crypto at the same places they already go every week. Merchants are starting to meet them there, with 40% already accepting crypto at checkout and 84% expecting crypto payments to become common within five years.
This report started with 12 million new holders in a single year.
It ends with 67 million people showing us what a maturing crypto economy looks like through the choices they make every day.
METHODOLOGY STATEMENT
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.
Data are weighted where necessary by age, by gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, marital status, household size, employment, household income, and political party affiliation to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population.
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.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to other multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including, but not limited to coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.
For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact media@nca.org.