Cryptocurrency

Investing in cryptocurrency has become popular among Americans.  Cryptocurrency is a potential rival to government-controlled fiat currencies like the dollar, and Congress has paid an increasing amount of attention to how to incorporate it into American law, markets, and taxation.  Despite this attention from legislators, and its implications, politicians and social scientists know almost nothing about the politics of cryptocurrency in the American public.  Existing theories and folk wisdom suggest that cryptocurrency owners should be distinct from others, but provide little evidence in support of these claims.  We create the first robust profile of the personalities, demographics, and political attitudes of cryptocurrency owners.  We show that Americans who report hardship from inflation are more likely to own cryptocurrency, suggesting that when inflation is high, Americans may be more likely to use cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange and store of value.  Our results have implications for how the American public may react to Congress' attempts to manage what has been a trillion-dollar commodity and monetary policy changes going forward.