November is crypto literacy month

Crypto is on the rise. Crypto knowledge, however, is stuck on the runway: It turns out that 96% of U.S. adults can’t pass a test on crypto basics.

That’s according to the results of a survey that polled over 1,000 people in the U.S. and thousands more worldwide. Nine out of 10 people were not aware of bitcoin’s supply cap of 21 million, and less than half had an understanding of how the asset’s price is determined.

Perhaps more concerningly, the results suggest cryptocurrency isn’t doing much to break down the barriers of financial inclusion for certain groups: Crypto owners tend to steer young, educated, wealthy, and male. In addition, basic crypto knowledge plummeted even further outside the U.S., with 99% of respondents in Brazil and Mexico getting a failing grade.

While overall awareness of crypto may be at an all-time high, clearly the industry has work to do to equip more investors with the knowledge and tools to take part in this new asset class. That’s the impetus behind Crypto Literacy Month, an initiative that aims to promote greater consumer education about crypto and bitcoin, the concepts behind them, and the ways investors of all types can integrate digital assets into their financial planning.

CryptoLiteracy.org was created by Coinme, a cryptocurrency cash exchange that powers thousands of physical locations through partnerships with Coinstar and MoneyGram. (Disclosure: CoinDesk’s parent, Digital Currency Group, is an investor in Coinme.) Visitors to the site can take the same survey that created the initial results. CoinDesk is the official content partner of Crypto Literacy Month, and respondents will be given the opportunity to dive deeper into the basics and beyond with Crypto Explainer+, where CoinDesk breaks down the often complex world of cryptocurrency in easy-to-understand articles.

Every week in November, CryptoLiteracy.org will highlight a specific topic in crypto, starting with bitcoin. Subsequent weeks will dive into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (Defi), and important security basics every crypto investor should know. Watch CoinDesk’s social channels on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok for tidbits from the theme weeks, and you can take the survey at CryptoLiteracy.org to test your own crypto knowledge.

When you’re on the outside looking in, the world of crypto often seems impenetrable. Knowledge is the key to getting in, and Crypto Literacy Month aims to spread that knowledge – one day at a time.