18% of Students, Twice the U.S. Average, Own Cryptocurrency: Coinbase Survey

A majority of U.S. students want to take up a course on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology and twice the country’s average own cryptocurrency.

Students Twice as Likely to Own Cryptocurrency as Average Person

According to a recent nationwide survey of 675 students conducted by digital currency exchange Coinbase in partnership with Qriously, 18 percent of students said they own cryptoassets, while a quarter of them said that they would definitely take a cryptocurrency or blockchain-centric course.

David Yermack, the finance department chair at New York University Stern School of Business, said that such courses will “greatly benefit” students. Yermack has seen almost six times increase in the number of enrolled students in his course on blockchain, over the past four years, the report said.

According to him, the reason for such an increase is that:

“A process is well underway that will lead to the migration of most financial data to blockchain-based organizations. Students will benefit greatly by studying this area.”

A review also found that cryptocurrency and blockchain courses are finding a place among world’s top 50 universities. Among the top 50 U.S. universities, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, 42 percent offer at least one course on blockchain and crypto-related studies, while 22 percent provide more than one class.

The survey has found increasing interest for such courses among a wide range of students. 47 percent of social science major students said they were interested in learning about crypto, as did more than 34 percent of students from computer science and engineering majors .

Less Than 1% Worldwide Own Cryptocurrency

The news comes after Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan sparked a comparison last month, mentioning that only 8% of those in the U.S. and less than 1% worldwide own cryptoassets, while 63% of the world’s adults own smartphones. This, however, triggered questions from tweeters suspecting the accuracy of extrapolating future cryptocurrency ownership rates from present numbers.