A survey of 10,701 US adults: ~66% are not confident current ways to invest, trade, and use crypto are reliable and safe; 17% have used crypto, up from 16% YoY
Cryptocurrency markets are taking hits from all sides - from declines in value to multiple corporate bankruptcies to lawsuits and regulatory threats.
Context & Ripple Effects
Pew's new numbers land on a flat line: 16% of US adults had used crypto as of late 2021, and huge ad campaigns by crypto companies failed to move that figure through 2022. Today's 17% is the first uptick in that series, but it comes alongside the survey's sharper finding — roughly two-thirds of adults now say they lack confidence that current ways to invest, trade, and use crypto are reliable and safe.
The distrust has measurable sources in the related record: the FTC counted $1B+ in reported crypto-scam losses over 15 months, and an FBI report put 2022 crypto investment fraud losses at $2.57B, up from $907M the year before. Adoption isn't growing because persuasion failed; it's stalled because the fraud and bankruptcy news keeps validating the skeptics.
First-order effects
- Crypto companies' marketing problem is now confirmed as a trust problem, not a reach problem: spending that couldn't lift usage past 16% is running into a population where ~66% doubt the product category itself.
Second-order effects
- With FBI-reported crypto fraud losses nearly tripling year-over-year, regulators gain a public-opinion tailwind — enforcement actions and consumer-protection rules face less political resistance when two-thirds of surveyed adults already side with the skeptics.
Third-order effects
- Pew found the same distrust pattern toward social platforms back in 2015, when 69% doubted they would keep data private; if crypto follows that arc, the industry's structural fix will be third-party assurance and regulation rather than advertising — trust becomes the gating factor on mainstream adoption.
The trend: US crypto adoption is plateauing while measured fraud losses climb, widening the gap between how many people use crypto and how many trust it.