Crypto Ownership Linked to ‘Dark‘ Traits Like Psychopathy: Study

Personality traits ranging from narcissism to psychopathy were more commonly observed among people who own cryptocurrency, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of Miami.

The study surveyed 2,001 American adults to examine the relationship between cryptocurrency ownership and various political, psychological, and social characteristics. The sample included 900 males and 1,101 females, with an average age of 48.

The results of the survey—conducted in 2022 and reported last month—revealed that 30% of the respondents owned cryptocurrency. Among those, a diversity of political allegiances and identities were represented.

“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,” the study said.

“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 one’s primary news source, argumentativeness, and an aversion to authoritarianism,” it added.

And while crypto critics have seized on the report as concluding that crypto owners are psychopaths, study author Steve Littrell at the University of Toronto has pushed back, saying on X (formerly Twitter) that the assertion is “aggressively misrepresenting our paper's results.”

While the crypto space has no shortage of colorful characters, financial experts say a study targeting one investment class is unusual.

“I wouldn't say that people who hold gold or silver are psychopaths,” University of Birmingham Professor Andrew Urquhart—who was not affiliated with the study—told Decrypt.

The Head of the Department of Finance at the Birmingham Business School, Urquhart noted that in Finance 101, students learn to diversify their portfolios.

“We all know when things are bad, you go into gold because it does very well in bad times, so a safe haven hedge—and cryptos were seen as a safe haven hedge back in 2018, 2019, and 2020.”

Urquhart said that cryptocurrency may not be seen as a haven hedge now because it is more correlated with traditional markets, and owning them should not determine the mental state of the investors.

“I definitely wouldn't agree that people who invest in cryptos are necessarily psychopaths,” he said.

Urquhart did, however, acknowledge that crypto investors tend to be young, and noted that research has found they tend to be men who are not generally well-educated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, a growing number of people in the United States locked down and—receiving up to $1,500 in stimulus checks—turned to apps like Robinhood to trade money to buy and trade cryptocurrency.

Robinhood became so popular that the app crashed on multiple occasions between 2020 and 2021.

The study asked participants to provide demographic data, including age, sex, income, education, religious and political views, psychological traits, and media usage, with the aim of creating a detailed profile of cryptocurrency owners.

“These items allow us to test our hypotheses and to explore a fuller profile of traits of crypto buyers,” the study said.

While the majority of crypto-enthusiasts are known for their libertarian leanings, the study found that the participants polled tended to be more liberal in their political views and more likely to identify as Democrats.

The study did warn that the correlations were small and may not indicate a strong or consistent political pattern among crypto owners.

“We therefore urge caution when interpreting these results with regard to whether crypto ownership is meaningfully associated with traditional left/right political views,” the study said. “Regardless, and taken as a whole, these inconsistent findings suggest that crypto purchasers display a mixture of left-right political allegiances.”

According to the study, future research could include a broader look at global trends in distrust, populism, and cynicism of established institutions, as well as their consequences.

“We are in an era where established authorities are under attack, be they political institutions or financial markets—both can lead to negative externalities,” the researchers said, giving, for example, economic instability. “As such, understanding their causes is of vital importance.”

The researchers from the University of Toronto and Miami did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.