About 10 percent of U.S. adults used or invested in cryptocurrency in 2025, the highest level since 2022.

CoinPost, a blockchain media outlet, reported on May 19 local time that the result was confirmed in the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) for 2025 released in May.

The key point was that even as usage recovered, cryptocurrency's main use still stayed with investment and holding assets. In the survey, fewer than 2 percent of adults said they used cryptocurrency to buy goods or send money to acquaintances. The Fed pointed out that most usage was for investment and holding.

Experience also increased from the previous year. As the number of respondents who actually used or invested in cryptocurrency rose together, a trend emerged in which demand for cryptocurrency in the United States expanded again. Still, its spread as an everyday payment method was limited.

How payment demand formed also stood out. Among users who paid with cryptocurrency, more than 25 percent said recipients such as stores or individuals wanted cryptocurrency payment. That meant there were many cases in which use rose due to a seller's or counterparty's request rather than consumers choosing the payment first.

Among so-called unbanked people without a bank account, cryptocurrency was used as a payment method relatively more often. The survey showed 6 percent of unbanked adults said they used cryptocurrency for payments, well above 2 percent among those with bank accounts. Given that about 6 percent of U.S. adults are unbanked as of 2025, it showed cryptocurrency is functioning as an alternative for those with low access to traditional finance.

By age, usage was highest among millennials aged 30 to 44, followed by Generation Z aged 18 to 29. By gender, the usage rate among men was about three times that of women. A trend of high usage also continued among higher-income households with annual income of $100,000 or more.

The survey showed a recovery in the U.S. cryptocurrency market while also revealing that usage patterns remain centred on investment. Overall usage rose to a three-year high, but the share of payments identified in the Fed survey was still below 2 percent. As a result, the outlet reported that cryptocurrency adoption in the United States is likely for the time being to continue being driven by investment demand and limited payment use among financially excluded people.