Crypto adoption rising across Europe – but UK leads the way

UK savers and investors are more likely to have bought and to currently hold crypto assets than their European counterparts.

The UK’s leading position in crypto adoption was one of the key research findings discussed at a breakfast presentation by Web 3.0 advocacy group Adan, hosted by CyptoUK and BCB Group and held at BCB Group’s head office in London.

The research found that 95% of UK consumers were aware of cryptocurrency, a figure matched only by Italy. In France, Germany and the Netherlands awareness stood at 92%, with Belgium lagging behind the pack at just 81% awareness.

The UK’s lead was also reflected in the 23% of UK consumers who had bought crypto assets at some point. Only the Netherlands and Belgium came close to matching this figure, with 22% of their consumers having ever bought crypto.

Meanwhile 19% of UK consumers currently hold crypto of some type, with again the Netherlands and Belgium ranking second with 17%.

The research was based on a survey of 7,000 European citizens, including 1,000 in the UK, by polling group IPSOS.

While results varied across Europe, rates of awareness of crypto were sharply higher than in 2024 in all countries.

Jerome Prigent, managing director of BCB Group, said: “Awareness and adoption of crypto continues to rise rapidly across Europe. The roll-out of regulation in the EU and its development in the UK will undoubtedly help build that awareness and confidence among consumers and business.

“But there is some variation in awareness across markets and the industry and policymakers need to keep working to improve understanding if Europe as a whole is to keep pace with other markets.”

The variation was particularly wide for awareness of stablecoins. Across the six countries surveyed, the average rate of awareness of regulated stablecoins was 17%, but was far higher in the UK, Italy and Belgium, and lower in France and Germany.

With regulation and public policy currently high on the crypto industry agenda, the research also found a range of opinion regarding the political support being given by their government to crypto. Overall, the number of survey respondents feeling their government was not supporting crypto outweighed those who thought they were being supportive.

Again, the UK stood out in this aspect of the findings with the highest proportion of respondents (15%) saying the government was actively backing crypto.

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