Is Crypto Safe to Invest in?

Is crypto safe to invest in? While 63% of Americans say they lack confidence in its safety, 76% of users report that crypto has improved their lives. Nearly 4 in 10 say their investments performed better than expected. This article breaks down the real risks, returns, and roadblocks of crypto adoption in the United States.

Confidence in crypto safety among U.S. adults

• 63% of Americans are not confident in crypto safety.
• Only 5% of Americans say they are very or extremely confident in crypto.
• 14% of Americans are either unaware of crypto or gave no answer, nearly triple the high-confidence group.

Table with the percentage of confidence in crypto safety among Americans

Now that we see how shaky overall confidence is, the next step is to uncover the specific fears behind it.

Top cryptocurrency concerns Americans have

• Market losses are a concern for 48% of Americans, nearly 50% more than any other issue, including stress, fraud, or legal risk.
• Tech complexity ranks second at 35%, which shows confusion still blocks mass adoption.
  Investment stress and fraud both at 32%, which signals that emotional strain matches the fear of getting scammed.

Table with the top crypto concerns Americans have:

Those fears translate into clear roadblocks that keep many potential investors on the sidelines.

Top barriers preventing Americans from investing in crypto

• 15% of Americans cite lack of money and volatility fears as top reasons for avoiding or limiting crypto investment.
• 13% name security concerns as a barrier, which shows safety fears are nearly as common as financial ones.
• Only 8% mention low understanding as a barrier.

Table with the top obstacles preventing people from investing in crypto

Crypto volatility is the biggest pain point of Americans: non-investors rank volatility fears at 15 percent, while holders rank market losses at 48 percent, so price swings dominate every phase of the crypto journey. Tech complexity stands second among holder concerns, yet low understanding sits last among entry barriers, which means many people jump in before they gain mastery and feel overwhelmed once money is at stake. Finally, security and legal worries change shape as users progress: non-investors fear tax obligations and potential theft, while holders face legal uncertainty and actual fraud, a shift that signals practical risk replaces theoretical fear after exposure.

For the people who push past those barriers, the story changes once real-world experience kicks in.

How crypto affected Americans' lives

• 76% of Americans who use crypto say it has had a positive impact on their lives.
• Only 3% of crypto users in the U.S. report a negative impact from their experience.
• Most Americans engaged with crypto view it positively, while just 21% feel neutral.

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To understand that shift, we can pinpoint which advantages users say matter most day to day.

The top benefits of cryptocurrency that have improved the lives of American crypto investors:

Financial independence tops the chart at 49 percent, edging out investment gains at 44 percent and diversification at 42 percent, which reveals a key motive shift: users value crypto most as a route to personal autonomy, using it simultaneously for growth and risk spread, with the freedom to direct their own wealth carrying slightly more weight than pure profit.

Table with the top positive effects of crypto

Still, no perk carries more weight than actual returns, so the next section measures performance against expectations.

Is crypto profitable?

What’s the real percentage of people who make money in crypto? Hype and headlines often distort the picture, but here we look at the actual outcomes reported by real Americans. The table below shows how people rated their crypto investment results compared to what they expected, revealing who gained, who lost, and who simply broke even.

Financial outcomes of investing in crypto

Table with the percentage of Americans by crypto investment outcome

Beyond personal portfolios, Americans also weigh crypto’s place in the wider financial system.

How Americans view crypto leadership and regulation

• 76% of Americans say their trust in crypto equals or exceeds their trust in traditional banks.
• 73% of Americans say it's important for the U.S. to lead the world in crypto.

Opinions sharpen when the focus turns to the scope and style of government oversight.

What Americans think about crypto regulation

• 64% believe government regulation of crypto is important.
• 67% worry that regulation could slow crypto innovation and development.

It feels paradoxical at first glance, yet it makes sense. Many people want clear rules that curb scams and stabilize the market (hence 64 % calling regulation important), but they also fear heavy-handed or poorly designed rules that could slow upgrades, limit new products, or drive activity offshore (so 67 % worry about lost innovation). The numbers show voters look for a balanced framework that protects users without choking progress.

• Crypto owners feel the tension most: 48% say regulation threatens decentralization, yet 39% still support government tax incentives. Just 28% trust regulators to handle crypto well, which shows support for rules is conditional: people want smarter, not just stricter, oversight. 
• Non-owners lean more toward protection than innovation, with far less support for subsidies and slightly lower concern about decentralization. This can be explained by their outsider perspective: they haven't used crypto firsthand, so they’re less invested in its original ideals and more focused on minimizing perceived risks like scams, fraud, or market instability.

Regulation talk quickly merges with election-year politics, linking crypto hopes to the White House race.

Americans’ views on Trump and crypto

Crypto’s 2024 election bet tilts toward price over utility: six in ten Americans and three out of four crypto holders expect Trump to boost coin values, yet fewer than half predict his policies will spark mainstream adoption, revealing a market driven more by political optimism than by real-world use cases.

Amid these big-picture debates, users still wrestle with everyday questions they need answered. Even though most Americans have their financial goals as their top priority in crypto, gaining knowledge is still very important for them.

• 81% of crypto holders want to learn more about the future of cryptocurrency.
• 40% of crypto users consume crypto-related news daily.

Top areas where Americans want more crypto knowledge

• 47% of Americans say they need more guidance on crypto investment strategies.
• 39% want clearer information about the tax implications of crypto.
• 38% say they need help understanding how blockchain technology works.
• 38% want to learn how to secure their crypto investments.
• 36% seek better knowledge on avoiding scams and using crypto safely.

Tax clarity is the swing factor: 39 percent of Americans say they need better guidance on crypto taxes, ranking it above blockchain, security, and scams. That gap is exactly what CoinLedger was built to solve: translating IRS complexity into simple, automated workflows for everyday investors.

Conclusions

1. Trust paradox: Although 63 % of Americans lack confidence in crypto safety, 76 % of users say it improved their lives, and 57 % report results at or above expectation. Doubts focus on system-wide risks, yet personal gains and financial autonomy quickly tip the scale once people invest, hinting that closing the trust gap could unlock a wave of new adopters.
2. Tax clarity as growth trigger: Thirty-nine percent of Americans rank crypto tax guidance higher than learning blockchain basics or security, making compliance the single biggest knowledge gap. This demand signals ripe opportunity for software, advisers, and policy experts who can turn IRS rules into simple routines that keep mainstream investors comfortable.
3. Regulation tightrope: Sixty-four percent call government oversight important, 67 % fear it will stall innovation, and only 24 % trust Washington to get it right. The numbers point to a collaborative path where industry sets technical standards while regulators supply guardrails, protecting users without freezing development.

Sources:

1. Association, National. "Research | National Cryptocurrency Association." National Cryptocurrency Association, https://nca.org/resources. Accessed 26 June 2025.
2. Blackstone, Tom. "2025 Cryptocurrency Adoption and Consumer Sentiment Report." Security.Org, 31 Jan. 2025, https://www.security.org/digital-security/cryptocurrency-annual-consumer-report/.
3. Michelle Faverio, Wyatt. "Majority of Americans Aren’t Confident in the Safety and Reliability of Cryptocurrency." Pew Research Center, 24 Oct. 2024, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/10/24/majority-of-americans-arent-confident-in-the-safety-and-reliability-of-cryptocurrency/.