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Dark Personality Traits of Cryptocurrency Investors Revealed: ScienceAlert
Ever since the Bitcoin launch Open source software helped popularize the concept. 15 years ago, people from all walks of life jumped into the cryptocurrency market.
However, some personalities are more attracted than others by the decentralized and anonymous economic system.
A survey of just over 2,000 American adults in the United States in 2022 confirmed a trend of owners of one of several thousands of cryptocurrencies in existence to possess a ‘dark’ personality.
Additionally, researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Miami who conducted the recent data analysis also found an association between beliefs in conspiracy theories and increased use of fringe social media platforms.
Although the concept of a digital economic system that protects privacy dates back to the 80sIt was the launch of Bitcoin in 2009 that attracted serious investment from the wider population.
The capital of the global cryptocurrency market is worth just under $2.5 trillionmost in the form of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether.
For those who invest, the encrypted log technology behind the coin offers a means of privacy and security that other forms of currency cannot offer, putting economic control directly in the hands of the distributors of wealth eliminating the need for financial institutions and state control.
In reality, cryptocurrency remains a fringe form of currency held by a passionate minority, have more things in common with gambling chips rather than a pocket full of money.
Motivated by distrust of traditional authorities, one might assume that cryptocurrency investors would have greater faith in conspiracies, with alternative political leanings and less faith in science.
However, existing research struggles to limit investors to particular ideologies, finding that digital currency owners can be variously described as anarchists, libertarians, and populists. Other studies note a troubling relationship among the far-right beliefs AND white supremacy.
To determine exactly what defines the types of individuals willing to embrace the cryptocurrency dream, cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell of the University of Toronto and colleagues Casey Klofstad and Joseph Uscinski of the University of Miami surveyed 2,001 Americans about their cryptocurrency ownership and their political, psychological, and social characteristics.
Only 30 percent of respondents said they own cryptocurrency, a surprisingly politically diverse group representing a range of political ideologies spanning the extremes of the left and right.
However, there was also a tendency for investors to fall outside the traditional spectrum, adhering to Christian nationalism and American exceptionalism orientations. They were also typically represented by dark personality traits, such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism, scoring slightly higher than non-crypto investors on scales that reflected a need for chaos, arguing similar results from past surveys.
By far, the main factors that determine whether one has or has owned cryptocurrency are: being male, relying heavily on fringe forms of social media for news, being argumentative, and having an aversion to authoritarian forms of government.
With such a small sample of self-reported results, it’s difficult to say for sure how representative the results are of the wider community, especially outside of the US. It’s also important to reiterate that cryptocurrency buyers aren’t all cut from the same cloth, with vastly different motivations and interests driving their investment decisions.
However, the authors argue that their findings provide valuable insights that help us better understand the demographics of cryptocurrencies in a world where trust in traditional authority structures and media sources is increasingly fragmented.
“As governments seek to more tightly regulate, or in some cases emulate, cryptocurrencies, it will be necessary to understand the appeal of such currencies,” the team writes.
This research has been published in PLOS ONE.