More than one in ten of us in the East have purchased cryptocurrencies
Even more people are planning to invest for the first time over the next 12 months.
More than one in ten of us in the East have used our savings to purchase cryptocurrencies.
They are still a relatively new phenomenon but have taken the world by storm.
New figures from Ziglu suggest savers are switching out of low-risk savings accounts in favour of the higher-risk crypto market.
Andrew Hagger is a Personal Finance Expert from Suffolk, and founder of Moneycomms.co.ukand told us why this may be: “A lot of that has got to be down to the poor rates that are being paid on savings accounts.
"If you look at Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays, HSBC…. they’re all paying you 0.01%.
"If you put £500 in at that rate, you’ll get 5 pence interest year.”
According to new figures released cryptocurrency platform Ziglu, one in 10 (10%) people in the UK now own cryptocurrencies.
Research also indicates that even more people are planning to invest for the first time over the next 12 months.
Andrew tells us about what else may have caused the increase in popularity: “I think it’s because of the high profile bitcoin games that have been made this year. It really rocketed in the latter part of last year and into this year.”
He added that despite the increase in popularity, there is still a big risk factor: “Do be prepared that you could lose your money- that’s a big thing.”
Most crypto investors are ‘dabbling’ with 24% claiming they have spent £100 or less buying them, while a further 28% have spent between £100 and £500.
Only 23% of people with cryptocurrencies have spent £1,000 or more buying them, but 5% have spent over £10,000.
The research indicates that around 60% of the cash people use to buy cryptocurrencies is coming from savings accounts and/or Cash ISAs highlighting how people are swapping low-risk accounts for high-risk investments.