Women are investing more and at a higher rate than men in Australia’s bitcoin and crypto currency exchange for the first time ever.
According to a new report by BTC Markets, an Australian bitcoin and cryptocurrency firm, last fiscal year saw a 175 per cent rise in female users, overshadowing the 80 per cent increase it saw in male users.
Female users also made larger initial deposits, averaging $2,381 compared to the $2,060 average deposited by male users.
When it came to frequency of trading however, male users traded more frequently than their female counterparts. On average, female users traded twice a day, while male users traded five times a day.
The report, which analyses the meta data on BTC’s platform for the previous financial year, suggests that women had a “structured trading strategy…with a smaller range of more focused positions.”
The report also found that the portfolio size of its female users were on average $400 less than male users.
“Playing with the risk averse narrative, women investors appear more likely to self-custody compared to their male counterparts,” the report says.
“This deduction is based on initial deposits, plus trading activity coupled with average portfolio size on our exchange. As more women invest, the industry becomes more representative of the investment community as a whole. That in turn advances its reputation as an asset class that can sit alongside other traditional investments.”
“More women trading cryptocurrency dispels stereotypes around cryptocurrency investors being risk lovers.”
Once seen as an area dominated by men, the cryptocurrency space has increasingly gained mainstream appeal.
Last week, global cryptocurrency exchange Gemini launched a report that forecasts 2022 as the year the crypto gender gap in Australia may close. The Global State of Crypto Report surveyed nearly 30,000 adults across 20 countries, and found that almost half of Australians planning to start investing in crypto in 2022 are women.
Currently in Australia, female crypto investors make up 27 per cent of the industry. The Gemini report found that 43 per cent of respondents who plan to start investing in crypto this year were women.
Across Australia, the US, and Europe, almost half of all non-crypto owning survey participants who anticipate buying crypto within the next 12 months are female.