Few retirees hold crypto, based on the surveys I could verify: relatively few older Americans report owning it, and that is useful context if you’re a retiree wondering where you stand. Below I walk through three sources: a Gallup poll, a Federal Reserve survey and an SEC Office of the Investor Advocate working paper. None gives a clean figure for retirees as a group, and I say so where that matters. Then I show a way to size a position if you’re curious.
What Gallup Found
A Gallup poll of 2,017 U.S. adults, fielded June 2–15, 2025 (margin of sampling error ±3 percentage points), found that 14% of U.S. adults report owning cryptocurrency. By group, 25% of men aged 18 to 49 own crypto, versus 12% of men aged 50 and older, 9% of women aged 50 and older and 8% of women aged 18 to 49. Gallup also describes seniors, at 7%, as among the least likely to own it, without defining “seniors” by age (Gallup). The article doesn’t give a separate figure for people 65 and older.
| Gallup group (June 2025) | Own crypto |
|---|---|
| Men 18–49 | 25% |
| Men 50+ | 12% |
| Women 50+ | 9% |
| Women 18–49 | 8% |
| Seniors (age not defined) | 7% |
Retirees Hold Crypto: What the Federal Reserve Found
The Federal Reserve’s report on the economic well-being of U.S. households in 2025 says 10% of adults used or held cryptocurrency, up 2 percentage points from 8% in 2024 but below 12% in 2021. It says 9% bought or held crypto as an investment, 2% used it to buy something or make a payment, and 1% used it to send money to friends or family, and respondents could choose more than one reason. The section I read did not break crypto use down by age (Federal Reserve: Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025).
What the SEC Working Paper Found
The SEC Office of the Investor Advocate’s July 2026 working paper (OIAD Working Paper 2026 No. 3) used a panel of 7,500 invited individuals surveyed from January 2024 to April 2025, and reports that approximately 8.7% of the U.S. population owns cryptocurrency. It uses four age groups, and after controlling for other characteristics, people 60 and older were 8 percentage points less likely than those aged 18 to 29 to own it. The paper also reports that most crypto owners also hold assets in retirement or brokerage accounts. It notes caveats: NFTs are combined with cryptocurrency in the survey, and the data do not show holding sizes or reasons for owning crypto (SEC OIAD: Cryptocurrency Owners in the U.S. Population). It does not analyze retirees as a group.
Put together, the three sources agree on the direction: ownership is lower among older adults. They differ in the exact percentages because they used different samples, definitions and dates, so I wouldn’t average them.
Why the Gap Might Exist (My Reasoning)
The following is my reasoning, not something the surveys report. Timing may matter along with temperament: Bitcoin didn’t exist until 2009, so someone who finished building a portfolio years earlier would have done so with traditional assets. In my view, a low ownership rate among older adults isn’t necessarily a considered rejection, because for some of them crypto may not have been part of the landscape when they set their allocation.
By comparison, index funds and target-date funds also arrived in retail form well after many older investors built their portfolios.
A Sizing Example (Assumed Numbers)
If you are curious about crypto, a useful question is how much a large drop would cost your whole plan. These figures are assumed. Say a retiree has a $500,000 portfolio and puts 2% into crypto, which is $10,000. If that position fell by 50%, the loss would be $5,000, or 1% of the whole portfolio. The percentages are examples I picked, not a recommendation.
| Assumed | Amount |
|---|---|
| Portfolio | $500,000 |
| Crypto position (2%) | $10,000 |
| Loss if position falls 50% | $5,000 |
| Share of portfolio | 1% |
The Yearly Withdrawal Your Crypto Slice Must Coexist With
A retiree’s plan has a fixed annual demand that younger investors do not face. The IRS says you generally must start required minimum distributions (RMDs) from retirement accounts at age 73, and that an RMD is generally figured by dividing the prior December 31 balance by a life expectancy factor from Publication 590-B. If the full RMD is not withdrawn by the due date, the shortfall may face a 25% excise tax, reduced to 10% if corrected within two years (IRS RMD FAQs). Publication 590-B shows a 75-year-old using the Uniform Lifetime table in 2026 with a denominator of 24.6 (IRS Publication 590-B).
Apply that to the $500,000 portfolio from the sizing example, assuming it is all in a traditional IRA and the person is 75. The RMD is $500,000 ÷ 24.6 = $20,325.20, about 4.1% of the balance. A $10,000 crypto position is $10,000 ÷ $20,325.20 = 49.2% of one year’s RMD, so a bad year in crypto can matter to the cash you need that year more than it matters to the portfolio total. A missed RMD of $20,325.20 could face a 25% tax of $5,081.30, or $2,032.52 at the reduced 10% rate, which shows why the withdrawal should be funded from steadier holdings.
The practical step is to decide the source of next year’s RMD before the year begins: set aside the amount in cash or short-term holdings, then treat the crypto slice as money you will not need to sell for it. The IRS page I opened does not say whether an RMD can be taken in the form of property, so this plan funds it in cash. Writing the RMD amount and its source beside your position-size limit turns the sizing example into a complete retirement-year plan.
A Practical Way to Use This Information
- Don’t read a low ownership rate as proof crypto is unsuitable for retirement money. In my view, it says little about suitability.
- Don’t read it as proof of an imminent rush either. I don’t have a verified trend for retirees to cite.
- If you’re retired and curious about crypto, you’d be in the minority of your age group according to the surveys above. That isn’t a reason either way, and it does mean less peer precedent.
- Size any position to what a large drop wouldn’t wreck. That’s my suggestion, and the example above shows the arithmetic.
- Write down your reason for owning it, since the SEC paper notes that its data don’t show why people hold it. That is my suggestion.
Questions About Retirees and Crypto
Does a low ownership rate mean crypto is a bad fit for retirees? No. The surveys measure ownership, not suitability.
Do the surveys agree on the overall rate? No: Gallup says 14%, the Fed says 10% used or held it in 2025, and the SEC paper says about 8.7%. They differ in sample, definition and date.
Will retiree ownership rise? I don’t have a verified forecast, so I won’t give one.
My Take on How Many Retirees Actually Hold Crypto in 2026
- In my view, the encouraging part of these numbers is that any retiree curious about crypto has plenty of room to learn first, since neither the surveys nor the market require a rush.
- In my view, holding crypto yourself puts the responsibility on you, because there may be no one to call to reverse a mistaken transfer or recover a lost key.
- In my suggestion, treat the decision like any other allocation: pick a size in advance, and revisit it at your regular review.
Sources
- Gallup: Cryptocurrency still has limited Main Street appeal (June 2025)
- Federal Reserve: Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025 (Banking)
- SEC OIAD Working Paper 2026 No. 3: Cryptocurrency Owners in the U.S. Population
- IRS: Retirement plan and IRA required minimum distributions FAQs
- IRS: Publication 590-B
Related reading: Crypto in Retirement Accounts: Advisors Adopt, the Public Hesitates and How to Build an Emergency Fund From Scratch in 2026: 7 Practical Steps.
This article offers general information and my own opinions, not financial, tax, or legal advice. The figures in worked examples are assumed. Laws, tax rules, and products change and can differ by location, so check current official sources and talk to a qualified professional about your own situation.