Who in CESEE likes crypto assets?

Melanie Koch

According to estimates for 2022, 3% of the Austrian population owns crypto assets (Fessler and Weber, 2024). Representative survey data collected in nine countries in 2023, now shed light on Austria’s neighbors in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) too.

In general, representative data on crypto asset ownership are still very scarce. The new data for CESEE come from the OeNB Euro Survey, which asked around 1,000 people per country if they own crypto assets. As the map below shows, ownership is not widespread. In most countries, less than 2% of the population owns crypto assets. Ownership rates are especially low in Hungary and Romania, where not even 1 in 100 reported to own crypto assets.

The only exception is Czechia: With about 5 in 100 saying that they hold crypto, the Czechs clearly stand out in the region. Still, in comparison to countries like Canada or the USA, the ownership rate is very low. Given these small numbers, one might be tempted to say that almost nobody in CESEE likes crypto. However, there are parts of the population who seem keener than the average.

A question of education?
For the two countries with the highest ownership rates, Croatia and Czechia, it was possible to delve deeper into what makes a typical owner. As in other countries studied so far, crypto asset ownership is more widespread among the younger part of the population. There is also evidence of a gender gap familiar from surveys in many other countries, with men being more likely to own crypto. As with other finance-related topics though, the gap in CESEE seems to be smaller than in Western economies like Austria or Canada.

What is more striking is a divide between educational levels. In both Croatia and Czechia, only around 2% of those without a university degree own crypto assets. However, 10% of Croatians and even 15% of Czechs with a university degree have such assets. Such a huge difference across education levels has not been found in other countries in the last few years. In some, like Austria, the difference seemed to have disappeared altogether (Fessler and Weber, 2024). Similarly, the higher the level of financial literacy, the more likely the person owns crypto assets in CESEE. For Canada, in contrast, that relationship is not as clear (see Balutel et al., 2023).

What about a taste for risk?
Besides such sociodemographic characteristics, personal attitudes usually play a role in personal finances. Given how Bitcoin and co. were perceived since their launch, one relevant attitude that comes to mind is the willingness to accept financial risks entailed by market volatility.

On average, households in CESEE do not have a particularly strong taste for risky financial assets. That is what they say in surveys, both directly and indirectly. For example, the ownership rates for crypto assets are not much lower but comparable to those for stocks in most of the countries under study. And this is not only a question of lacking availability or means to invest in such products. The financial crises the region has seen in the past did not only create distrust in banks, but also some hesitation to invest in the financial market.

Nevertheless, at first glance, those Croatians and Czechs who are more risk-seeking than the average citizen are indeed more likely to own crypto assets. But considering the educational level and that those with higher education tend to be more willing to take risks, it seems that the difference in education is still the more decisive factor in crypto ownership.

Often, those with higher education and financial literacy are early adopters of new technologies and financial products. They are those who usually have the means to do so. In the case of crypto assets, we see that pattern changing in some Western economies but not in CESEE, where however, overall, crypto assets do not seem to be too popular.

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official viewpoint of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank or the Eurosystem.