As this piece is being written late Saturday, March 13, Bitcoin trades around $61,000 – another all-time high. For those keeping score at home, the largest cryptocurrency has more than tripled than since December.
However, Bitcoin's ongoing ascent isn't the impetus for this piece. That topic is being regularly addressed and that's likely to continue. Rather, the point being made here is that women are increasingly interested in digital assets and that presents significant opportunity for advisors.
Robinhood – the notorious trading app at the center of the recent GameStop kerfuffle – says that number of women trading crypto on its platform is up 7x to this point in 2021 from the end of last year. Obviously, that's a compelling statistic, but what's noteworthy for advisors looking to cultivate relationships with female clients is that there's ample room for growth in crypto space for women.
“While women remain underrepresented on Robinhood Crypto compared with our total active customer base, it is notable that 40 percent of Robinhood active women customers are crypto traders.
These figures are encouraging and prove that crypto can be a powerful tool in decentralizing power in finance,” notes the trading platform.
Crypto brokerage giant eToro recently said just 15% of Bitcoin traders are women, underscoring the point crypto is a growth arena for women and a legitimate conversation starter for advisors.
Could Have Seen This Coming
Obviously, there's the benefit of hindsight here, but the move to embracing by women is some time in the making.
Consider the following headline “Cryptocurrency Is Not Just a Boys' Club.” That's from a Glamour article that's two years old. However, it's not unreasonable to assume that advisors that are well-versed in crypto may not be having this conversation with female clients.
Although numerous studies confirm women are superior investors and savers to men, many of those reports observe women are more risk-averse. Among asset classes, digital currencies are highly volatile and the broader group is still seen as something of a Wild West. Hardly the place for any investor, regardless of gender, afraid of risk.
However, Grayscale's 2019 Investing in Bitcoin: Perspectives from Female Investors confirms women are interested in crypto and flexible on the matter. Grayscale is the company behind the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and other crypto index funds.
“63% of female investors appreciate the ability to invest in fractional amounts of Bitcoin (compared to buying a whole coin or a full share of a stock), vs. 56% of male investors,” according to the study. “60% of female investors like the liquidity offered by direct Bitcoin investments, vs. 56% of male investors.”
The study also confirms big opportunity for advisors.
“More female investors indicated that they lack familiarity with Bitcoin (76% female vs. 52% male investors), but an overwhelming majority of female investors (93%) noted that they could be more open to the asset class if they had more educational resources available to them,” notes Grayscale.
An Avenue for Inclusion
Bitcoin and other credible digital coins – and some dubious ones, too – are generating increasing interest. Last month, Robinhood said it added six million new customers to its crypto platform since the start of the year. Obviously, plenty of those clients are women, confirming advisors have an opportunity for more crypto conversations with women.
This is also a potentially compelling avenue for advisors working with younger, tech savvy female clients because they're feeling more empowered to embrace some of the risks associated with crypto and it's all over the media they consume. For example, “Why Millennial Women in Beauty Are Embracing Bitcoin” is a headline Allure ran last November.
Remembering that foundations of crypto include democratization, equality and inclusion, it's easy to see why more women in 2021 are investigating the asset class and why more advisors should up their digital asset education games.
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