Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the average value of the money held by UK adults on crypto exchanges.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published consumer research in June 2021, which offered insight into the cryptoassets market in the UK. The FCA found that 4.4% of UK adults currently hold cryptocurrency, or approximately 2.3 million consumers. The FCA also found that the median value of holdings of crypto owners was £300, and 47% of crypto owners (who chose to declare their holdings) had £260 or less in crypto.

Additionally, the FCA explored consumers’ reasons for buying cryptocurrencies and found that 38% of crypto users bought their cryptocurrencies “as a gamble to make or lose money”. This reasoning was down 9 percentage points on 2020, where 47% of users bought their cryptocurrencies “as a gamble”.

The Cryptoasset Taskforce – HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the FCA and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) – continues to monitor ongoing development in cryptoasset markets, and is taking forward a number of regulatory initiatives to manage risks and support innovation.