Female investors led crypto market growth in 2021, says new report

The crypto market is maturing and is no longer driven by speculation, according to a new report from BTC Markets (BTCM). According to the report by the Australian cryptocurrency exchange, the crypto market's growth in 2021 was driven by utility.

The BTCM Investor Study Report 2021 is an in-depth analysis of data from the BTCM exchange for the year 2021, divided by demographics (age, gender, investor type) to anonymously examine and analyze cryptocurrency investment habits among its 325,000 customers.

As per the report, "crypto queens" or rather female investors on the platform have grown at a faster rate than their male counterparts. Female investors surged by 126% in comparison to male investors, who increased by 83%.

According to the report, the most significant influx of new clients for BTCM in 2021 came from Australia's "mature wealth accumulators," who are 45 to 59 years old and have a 79% increase year over year. The trend is encouraging, according to BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler, owing to the cautious risk appetite of this age group as they start to prepare for retirement. She added:

"They bring a wealth of experience in traditional investment markets and their decision to invest in crypto is not driven by the fear of missing out (FOMO) but on strategic research and information."

BTC Markets also revealed that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) continued to be the most traded tokens on the BTCM platform in 2021, while Tether (USDT) emerged as a new entrant in the top five traded cryptocurrencies. The average value of trades executed on the platform increased by 48%, with daily orders increasing by 42%. Additionally, the average volume of trades executed on the platform rose by 118%. According to BTC Markets, the significant growth is due to a greater number of investors recognizing the utility of cryptocurrencies.

Related: Almost half of Germans to invest in crypto: Report

Although individual investors account for the bulk of users on the BTCM platform, sole traders (196%), companies (79%) and self-managed super funds (SMSFs) (74%) performed better than retail (66%) in 2021. Per the report, the size of the SMSF investment grew significantly, with initial deposits now in the hundreds of thousands rather than tens of thousands, and the average portfolio sizes for companies rose by 61%.