Majority of British crypto owners revealed to be hodlers: Survey

An average crypto asset holder in Great Britain would be young, male and a hodler. And they would consider crypto to be a "fun investment." Such are the findings from the fresh research conducted by Her Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC) with the help of research agency Kantar UK and published on Tuesday. 

Taking a quantitative approach, the research sought to establish the prevalence of owning crypto assets, the types and amounts held, and the platforms individuals use to buy crypto assets. It consisted of a survey with a representative sample of 5,916 United Kingdom adults, including 713 crypto asset owners.

The report revealed that 10% of the U.K. citizens hold or have held crypto, with 55% never having sold any (equivalent to 5% of the adult population). Only 7% are currently holding more than £5,000 (almost $6000 by press time) in value, while 52% of current owners have holdings of up to £1,000 ($1200).

Related: UK government seeks public input on DeFi taxation

Other significant findings come as no surprise — crypto owners tend to be younger than the general population with 76% of them 45 years, and mostly they are male (69%). A vast majority hold cryptocurrencies (79%), while the second most popular type of asset is utility tokens (20%).

An important takeaway refers to the common trading pattern — 68% of owners most frequently acquire crypto from “centralized exchanges” and 81% use these exchanges to sell or exchange their assets.

The majority of owners reported making a profit (63%) over the past year when disposing of cryptoassets, 14% claim they made a loss and, similarly, 14% revealed they broke even. As the survey was conducted between February 2021 and June 2021, this data should be attributed to 2020.

On Tuesday, HMRC made a call for an evidence paper, describing its intention to study whether administrative hassles and costs may be reduced for taxpayers who participate in the crypto industry.