Finder's Cryptocurrency Adoption Index measures the growth of cryptocurrencies worldwide through an ongoing survey of Internet users in 27 countries.

Key Australia crypto adoption trends for April 2022

Cryptocurrency adoption statistics in Australia

Finder surveyed 1,503 Internet users in Australia for the April 2022 report and found it ranks 6th out of 27 countries studied. The crypto ownership rate in Australia is 18.3%, ahead of Brazil (15.1%) and Colombia (14.5%). This is also higher than the global average of 14.6%.

Ownership has ebbed and flowed in Australia, with 16.8% of respondents saying they owned crypto in November 2021, 22.9% in January 22 and now 18.3% saying the same in the April report. Ownership globally has ebbed and flowed since the November survey, where an average of 11.2% of respondents said they owned crypto. This was followed by 15% in the January of 2022 report, before dipping slightly to an average of 14.6% in the April 2022 report.

Popular cryptocurrencies in the Australia

Of the people in Australia who say they own some form of cryptocurrency, 63.8% of crypto owners own Bitcoin, making it the most popular cryptocurrency. In January 2022 report that number was 72.7%.

The second most popular coin is Ethereum (ETH) at 39.2%, with Dogecoin (DOGE) in third place at 31.7%.

Bitcoin adoption in Australia

While the number of crypto owners has fallen in Australia from 22.9% in January 2022 to 18.3% in the April 2022 report, the percentage of crypto owners saying they own Bitcoin is down to roughly 63.8% from 72.7% in January.

• Global BTC ownership

Dogecoin's uptake in Australia

Dogecoin is the 3rd most popular coin of choice in Australia, with 31.7% of adults who own crypto holding the memecoin.

• Global DOGE ownership

Ethereum's popularity with crypto owners in Australia

Ethereum is the 2nd most popular choice for crypto owners in Australia, with 39.2% of crypto owners saying they hold the coin in the April 2022 report.

• Global ETH ownership

Solana adoption in Australia

Solana is up in the April 2022 report, with 15.6% of crypto owners saying they hold the coin, compared to the 13% who said the same in the January 2022 report.

• Global SOL ownership

Popularity of Ripple in Australia

Ripple ownership is on its way up in Australia, with 14.1% of crypto owners saying they hold Ripple in April 2022 — up from 13.8% in January 2022.

• Global XRP ownership

Men in Australia more likely than women to own crypto

Of those in Australia who own crypto, 69% are men and 31% are women – meaning that men are roughly 2.2 times as likely to own crypto than women. There is a wide gap in adoption of crypto between men and women. Globally, men are on average 1.7 times more likely than women to own cryptocurrency. Of those who own crypto, an average of 37% are women and 63% are men.

The April 2022 report revealed that no country has a higher adoption rate for women than men. In January 2022, four countries — Malaysia, Norway, Russia and Venezuela — had higher crypto ownership among women than men.

The gender split of crypto owners in November 2022 was 37% for women and 63% for men, yet by January 2022, those numbers looked slightly better at 41% for women and 59% men.

Age trends for crypto ownership in Australia

Crypto ownership is dominated by younger Australians, with 53.8% of crypto owners ages 18-34 Mar 22. People in Australia ages 55 and older are the group least likely to own crypto, making up just 22.4% of crypto owners.

Global crypto ownership rates are heavily skewed toward the young, with close to half (47.5%) of crypto owners ages 18 to 34. The next most likely are those ages 35 to 54 (30.3%), followed by those ages 55 and older (22.2%).

Attitudes towards cryptocurrency around the world

Globally, roughly 51% of Internet users think crypto is a good investment, according to a survey conducted by Finder in 27 countries in January 2022. This number may not seem encouraging on the face of it, but it is a significant increase on the 43% who thought positively about crypto investing in November 2021.

Which counties are all in on crypto?

Nigeria remains the country most positive on crypto, with 87% saying they think investing in cryptocurrency is a good idea, coming off the back of the 81% who took the survey in November.

Also making the top 5 countries most positive on crypto as an investment are 3 countries not included in the previous survey: Venezuela (81%), Ghana (78%) and Kenya (77%).

The Philippines, which ranked as the country second-highest on crypto in November at 71%, rounds out the January top 5 with 73% now saying cryptocurrencies are a good investment.

Countries still sceptical about cryptocurrencies

Germany ranks as the country most dubious about crypto, with only 17% giving a positive response. Last month, Germany ranked as the second-least-positive country, with a little over a fifth (22%) saying they thought crypto was a good investment.

Out of the bottom 5 countries in regards to positivity towards crypto, Germany along with Sweden (18%), Norway (20%) and Canada (24%) all saw their positivity numbers drop since the previous survey. Japan, which buttons up the bottom 5, actually saw a slight increase in positivity from 22% in November 2021 to 24% in January 2022.

It's worth noting that the country that was most sceptical about the value of cryptocurrency as an avenue for investment in November 2021 was the UK, which fell out of the bottom 5 in January 2022 with positivity increasing from 17% to 24%.

Cryptocurrency and corruption

Interestingly, there seems to be a strong correlation between crypto investment positivity and government transparency, with countries that rank poorly on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index inversely ranking highly on Finder's list for crypto-positivity.

The Corruption Perception Index measures economic transparency. A low score indicates a high rate of perceived corruption in the economy. The strong correlation between high positivity and high corruption present in January 2022's results was also visible in the November 2021 survey, when 9 of the top 10 most positive countries had a Corruption Perceptions Index score below the global average.

This indicates that cryptocurrency is more appealing in regions that have low trust in the established financial system. Citizens of these countries likely see cryptocurrencies and wallets as a more reliable method of wealth storage than traditional banks.

Crypto usurping the role of traditional remittance?

Among the many use cases brought up by those bullish on the value of crypto is its application as a way of transferring funds abroad. And there might be something to it.

Of the 10 countries with the highest percentage of their GDP being made up by remittances, all rank poorly in regards to transparency. Specifically, the Philippines, Vietnam, Ghana, Mexico, Nigeria, India, Kenya and Colombia see remittances making up over 1% of their total GDP — with the Philippines being the standout at almost a tenth (9.7%) of its GDP coming in the form of remittances.

It's a similar tale in regards to positivity, with 9 out of the top 10 countries most reliant on remittances also ranking highly in terms of being crypto-positive. Russia is the notable exception.

Methodology

Apoption data

We regularly survey individuals across 27 countries to analyze cryptocurrency adoption rates, investment diversification and the demographics of investors, which has so far garnered 149,578 responses.

The survey is designed by Finder and conducted by Google in all territories except for the first run in Australia, where the survey is conducted by Qualtrics/SAP.

Participants are Internet, smartphone and Google AdMob users or Qualtrics research panel participants. Sample sizes range from 1,000 to 2,500 people and are directly proportional to population size. Participating countries are selected based on global Finder site traffic and availability on research platforms.

Survey results are analyzed using Google's Data Studio, which provides weighted averages for the top-level responses, along with breakdowns for sex and age.

Data for reports was collected as follows:

• November 2021 report — Data collected in September 2021
• January 2022 report — Data collected in November 2021
• April 2022 report — Data collected in February 2022

Awareness data

In January 2022, Finder asked Internet users in 27 countries whether they'd heard of cryptocurrencies and if they thought crypto was a good investment, which we used as the basis for our awareness index. Specifically, we asked:

Do you think cryptocurrency is a good investment?

• Yes
• No
• I don't know what cryptocurrency is

The positivity figures are based on whether the respondent thought crypto was a good investment. So far Finder has surveyed a total of 100,633 Internet users in 27 countries in November 2021 and January 2022.