Australian crypto ownership falls as millions await regulation
Cryptocurrency usage in Australia has fallen slightly despite Bitcoin rallying to an all-time high in 2024, according to this year’s Swyftx Australian Cryptocurrency Survey.
The number of Australians that currently own digital assets slipped from 23% to 20%, with a record 11 percentage point rise in Gen Z crypto investors offset by falling usage among older generations.
Australians report a lack of understanding and concern over regulation as their main reasons for not entering the market. But the survey findings also suggest that a remarkable 6.4 million Australians could enter the market when it is regulated.
“Most of the major crypto economies have reported a slight drop in usage over the last 12 months and Australia is no exception,” said Swyftx CEO Jason Titman.
“A very significant number of investors appear to be sitting on the sidelines waiting for clear consumer protections. Right now, we predict anywhere between two to six million Australians will enter the market when the dust has settled on regulation. It is an extraordinary situation.”
The Swyftx national survey, run by YouGov, found a deepening gap in cryptocurrency ownership between Australians aged under and over 50. In total, 32% of Gen Z Australians now own digital assets. An 11 percentage point rise on 2023 that represents the largest single increase in ownership among a generation since the Swyftx survey began.
Record numbers of Australian cryptocurrency investors also reported making a profit over the last 12 months. The average reported profit in 2024 was $9.6K, with just over eight in ten crypto users (82%) claiming to have made gains. Equivalent to around 3.2 million Aussies.
The value of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, rallied by around XX% over the last 12 months. The cryptocurrency also received a significant boost in January when US regulators approved Bitcoin exchange traded funds operated by global investment managers such as BlackRock and Fidelity.
“The first wave of crypto adoption in Australia was all about personal freedoms and investor conviction around Bitcoin. It felt like it belonged to the iconoclasts,” said Titman.
“The next big wave of local adoption is almost certainly going to be all about the normalisation of digital assets into mainstream society. But until we have a settled policy environment that feels familiar to Australian investors, I do expect adoption to track sideways. It is the calm before the storm.”
The survey findings are based on a YouGov survey of 2,229 adults across Australia between 16 and 23 of July, 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted using ABS estimates and are representative of all Australian adults (aged 18+) nationally.
The full results of the fourth annual Swyftx crypto survey are available here.
About Swyftx
Swyftx is an Australian cryptocurrency exchange. The multi-award winning business is the country’s top-rated exchange and supports around 800,000 retail, business and SMSF customers across the ANZ region. Swyftx is AUSTRAC registered and ISO 27001 certified.
