Key Takeaways
- • Approximately 17 percent of active Chase checking account users ever transferred funds into crypto investments between January 2017 and May 2025, according to a JPMorgan Chase report, with participation rising about 2 percentage points since the start of 2024.
- • Adoption has been concentrated and gradual, with notable upticks around March and November 2024 that coincided with new all-time highs in the price of bitcoin.
- • Cryptocurrency-tracking ETFs, enabled by an early 2024 rule change, have emerged as a new channel, with some investors holding crypto only through ETFs rather than direct platform accounts.
- • Young men are about twice as likely as same-aged women to hold crypto, a wider gender gap than in traditional investment accounts, though the gap has narrowed over time.
- • Holdings remain small: the median direct crypto investment is less than one week's income, and the median crypto ETF allocation is under 5 percent of total assets.
Summary
A JPMorgan Chase report examines how U.S. households engage with crypto investments, drawing on de-identified data from 10 million active Chase checking account users and one million retail portfolios held in self-directed JPMorgan Wealth Management accounts. The report finds that crypto participation has spread across the population over recent years, but adoption has slowed outside of brief bursts that align with new all-time highs in bitcoin's price. Households tend to move money into crypto accounts during substantial bitcoin rallies, while first-time investors continue to appear at a more gradual pace in other periods.
According to the analysis, approximately 17 percent of the sampled checking account users had ever transferred funds to crypto accounts as of early 2025, an increase of 2 percentage points since the start of 2024. The report characterizes the recent pace of expansion as slow relative to the rapid adoption seen during the 2020-2021 pandemic savings boom.
A newer channel has gained traction since early 2024, when a regulatory change allowed the listing and trading of new products tracking certain cryptocurrencies. Crypto-tracking ETFs have allowed some investors to add exposure without holding crypto directly, and the report notes that some ETF holders had no prior direct crypto holdings. Among these ETF holders, the median allocation is less than 5 percent of total assets.
The report also highlights demographic concentration. Crypto holders remain skewed toward young men, who are roughly twice as likely as same-aged women to own such investments, a larger gap than seen in traditional investment accounts. The gender gap has narrowed over time. The median size of direct crypto investments is still small, at less than a week's worth of income.
The authors note limits to the data: the Chase checking lens shows money moving into crypto platforms but not what happens to those funds afterward. Inferences about flows rely on public market indicators, including bitcoin's substantial share of trading volume and market value. The authors say the findings are intended to inform policymakers designing regulatory frameworks for digital assets and to support tailored investor education as crypto moves into more regulated financial channels.
According to the analysis, approximately 17 percent of the sampled checking account users had ever transferred funds to crypto accounts as of early 2025, an increase of 2 percentage points since the start of 2024. The report characterizes the recent pace of expansion as slow relative to the rapid adoption seen during the 2020-2021 pandemic savings boom.
A newer channel has gained traction since early 2024, when a regulatory change allowed the listing and trading of new products tracking certain cryptocurrencies. Crypto-tracking ETFs have allowed some investors to add exposure without holding crypto directly, and the report notes that some ETF holders had no prior direct crypto holdings. Among these ETF holders, the median allocation is less than 5 percent of total assets.
The report also highlights demographic concentration. Crypto holders remain skewed toward young men, who are roughly twice as likely as same-aged women to own such investments, a larger gap than seen in traditional investment accounts. The gender gap has narrowed over time. The median size of direct crypto investments is still small, at less than a week's worth of income.
The authors note limits to the data: the Chase checking lens shows money moving into crypto platforms but not what happens to those funds afterward. Inferences about flows rely on public market indicators, including bitcoin's substantial share of trading volume and market value. The authors say the findings are intended to inform policymakers designing regulatory frameworks for digital assets and to support tailored investor education as crypto moves into more regulated financial channels.
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