Survey finds only 2% of Americans have purchased an NFT

While non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been touted by certain corners of the financial and entertainment industry as the next greatest investment opportunity ”“ even to the point of becoming the focus of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch ”“ the actual popularity of the sector is bordering on the nonexistent.

According to new data from the Pew Research Center, roughly half of Americans have heard about NFTs, but only 2% of Americans and 6% of adults under 30 have purchased an NFT.

The lack of enthusiasm in spending money on NFTs cannot be linked to a lack of awareness. Pew found 49% of American adults have heard at least a little about non-fungible tokens, including 11% who have heard a lot. Among that share, 69% of adults ages 18 to 29 said they have heard at least a little about NFTs ”“ in comparison, 56% of those ages 30 to 49 and 36% of those 50 and older were aware of NFTs.

Among demographics, men were 22 percentage points more likely than women to say they have heard of NFTs, while Asian Americans were the most likely among racial and ethnic groups to say they have heard at least a little about NFTs (66%), compared about half of White or Hispanic adults (49% and 48%, respectively) and 38% of Black adults. Also, two-thirds of high-income Americans have heard at least a little, followed by roughly half of Americans in the middle-income range (51%) and about a third (36%) of those with lower incomes.

One thing those diverse groups shared was an unwillingness to buy NFTs ”“ Pew added that small shares of all those groups have actually bought these items.