German investors are becoming increasingly enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) and the number is growing rapidly. Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin reports this in a new research called ‘Into The Cryptoverse 2022, Germany editionâ€
How many German crypto investors?
According to the KuCoin survey, a whopping 16% of the German population between the ages of 18 and 60 owns crypto or has traded crypto in the past six months. That equates to approximately 7.5 million crypto investors in Germany.
41% of this group plan to invest even more in crypto in the next six months. 13% of the population is curious about crypto and is considering investing in the next six months. However, only 23% of this group say that there is a good chance that they will actually do this, the rest remained reluctant.
How are these investors distributed?
KuCoin reports that a large part of German investors only recently started using crypto for the first time. 17% of German crypto investors say they have more than 2 years of experience trading crypto, of which 4% have even more than 6 years. 37% have been trading for more than a year now, 18% started investing around the April 2021 peak and 45% only started in the last six months.
Furthermore, KuCoin reports that women are showing an increasing interest in crypto. Although 69% of German crypto investors are male, among the ‘crypto-curious’ 53% are female.
Why do Germans invest in crypto?
KuCoin reports that Germany was the first country to recognize bitcoins as “units of value” and therefore classified them as “financial instruments.” Despite this, according to KuCoin, Germans have a reticent reputation when it comes to investing. Yet they invest remarkably in crypto, especially for the long term.
44% of German crypto investors invest in this because they want to be part of “the future of finance” and is the biggest motivator. 35% invest for its passive income opportunities, while 30% consider crypto a reliable store of value. The other 29% hope to become financially independent with the help of crypto.
Other media report that almost half of all Germans (referring to the above 44%) want to invest in crypto in the near future. That would be a bizarre number and is not at all what the research reports. Also, the survey was conducted with a relatively small sample of 1,002 respondents and by a crypto exchange, so we may have to take these results with a grain of salt anyway.
Recently, another study by KuCoin found that the number of crypto investors in Africa had increased by as much as 2,500% last year.