A recent survey by the Federal Reserve reveals that approximately one in ten American adults either used or held cryptocurrency in 2025, marking a notable increase from 7% in the previous year. This growth is largely attributed to the introduction of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which have provided a more accessible and familiar avenue for retail investors to participate in the digital asset market.
The Fed’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), which sampled nearly 13,000 adults in October 2025, indicates that crypto adoption has rebounded from a post-FTX slump, though it still trails the peak of 12% seen in 2021-2022. The dominant use case remains investment, with about 7% of adults holding cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle. Only a small fraction uses it for everyday payments or money transfers, highlighting that most Americans view digital assets as speculative investments rather than practical currency.
The report directly links the uptick in participation to the approval and expansion of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, which have enabled households to gain crypto exposure through brokerage and retirement accounts, bypassing direct exchange interactions. Demographically, crypto usage is most prevalent among adults under 45 years old and those with incomes above the national median, a consistent trend since the Fed began tracking this data in 2021.
Despite the overall rise in adoption, cryptocurrency’s role in everyday transactions remains minimal. According to a Kansas City Federal Reserve brief, the proportion of US consumers using crypto for payments has consistently been below 3% since 2021 and declined to under 2% in 2023-2024. The 2025 survey confirms that most crypto users are investors, not spenders, with investment purposes far outweighing transaction uses.
Overall, the new SHED data suggests that by 2025, cryptocurrency in the United States has settled into a bifurcated identity: a mainstream investment product accessible via ETFs for about 10% of adults, and a niche payment tool used by less than 5% of the population. Future shifts in this balance will likely depend on regulatory developments, stablecoin adoption, and deeper integration of digital assets into the financial system, areas that continue to evolve.