Nearly half of crypto owners first bought digital assets in 2021 -survey

FILE PHOTO: A bank of cryptocurrency miners operates at the Scrubgrass Plant in Kennerdale, Pennsylvania, U.S., March 8, 2022. Picture taken March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Alan Freed/

(Reuters) - Almost half of all cryptocurrency owners in the United States, Latin America and Asia Pacific purchased the digital assets for the first time in 2021, according to a new survey from U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Gemini.

The survey of nearly 30,000 people across 20 countries, which was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022, shows 2021 was a blockbuster year for crypto, with inflation in particular driving adoption in countries that have experienced currency devaluation, the report found.