Crypto Owners More Likely to Have 'Dark' Traits, Study Shows

A recent study has found that cryptocurrency ownership is associated with belief in conspiracy theories and “dark” personality traits such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism (collectively known as the “Dark Tetrad”). The research highlights the diverse political identities of crypto owners and their aversion to authoritarianism.

Study Reveals Political and Psychological Traits of Cryptocurrency Owners

A research paper titled “The Political, Psychological, and Social Correlates of Cryptocurrency Ownership” was published on Wednesday in PLOS One, a peer-reviewed open-access mega journal published by the Public Library of Science. The paper was authored by Shane Littrell from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, and Casey Klofstad and Joseph E. Uscinski from the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami.

“We polled 2,001 American adults in 2022 to examine the associations between cryptocurrency ownership and individual level political, psychological, and social characteristics,” they wrote. “Analyses revealed that 30% of our sample have owned some form of cryptocurrency and that these individuals exhibit a diversity of political allegiances and identities.” The authors detailed:

We also found that crypto ownership was associated with belief in conspiracy theories, ‘dark’ personality characteristics (e.g., the ‘Dark Tetrad’ of narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism), and more frequent use of alternative and fringe social media platforms.

“When examining a more comprehensive multivariate model, the variables that most strongly predict cryptocurrency ownership are being male, relying on alternative/fringe social media as ones primary news source, argumentativeness, and an aversion to authoritarianism,” the authors added.

The paper describes that “given the growing popularity of what many see as risky financial behavior, scholars have recently begun to probe the political, psychological, and social characteristics of cryptocurrency users to better understand the profile of people drawn to this type of investing. Some preliminary work suggests that individuals who have owned cryptocurrency differ from non-owners, in terms of both their political attitudes and identities and their psychological profiles.”

The authors further shared, “Our results here suggest that crypto purchasers, on average, share an eclectic mix of political attitudes, identities, and predispositions,” emphasizing:

This finding contrasts with past claims that crypto currencies are some sort of financial shibboleth of the ‘far-right.’

“We are in era where established authorities are under attack, be they political institutions or financial markets. Both can lead to negative externalities (i.e., economic instability). As such, understanding their causes is of vital importance,” the authors concluded.