TL;DR
- The BPI published a national study revealing that the “digital gold” argument barely convinces Americans to buy Bitcoin.
- BPI analyzed messages focused on financial control and delivered by trusted individuals, which proved significantly more effective at attracting new buyers.
- A Cleveland Fed paper shows that return expectations predict Bitcoin holdings better than any demographic variable.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) published the results of a national study that challenges one of the most repeated arguments in the ecosystem: presenting Bitcoin as “digital gold” barely makes an impact among everyday Americans. The project was developed alongside polling firm Cygnal and the organization Neighborhood Bitcoin, and unfolded across three phases between March and June 2026.
The first phase of the BPI study included a survey of 1,516 registered voters between the ages of 18 and 64. Participants were classified into four segments: “Undecided Curious” represented 32%, “Ideological Rejectors” approximately 30%, “Financially Stressed Disconnected” around 20%, and “Active Believers” the remaining 18%.
BPI: Messages That Actually Work
The second phase brought together eight focus groups with approximately 80 people who did not own Bitcoin but could be persuaded. The sessions were held in Columbus, Ohio, and Nashville, Tennessee, and were conducted by Brent Buchanan, CEO of Cygnal, each lasting approximately 95 minutes. The final phase consisted of a message validation survey conducted between May 29 and June 2, 2026, with 1,000 voters participating and a margin of error of ±3.10 percentage points.
The BPI study results indicated that control was the primary concern among respondents regarding Bitcoin, followed by the asset’s proven performance, security, accessibility, and ease of use. Phrases built around the idea of control had the greatest impact, including messages such as “You decide how much” or “You can track the activity on your own.”
The concept of “freedom money” —describing Bitcoin as savings that no bank or government can freeze or inflate— also showed high effectiveness. The “digital gold” argument, by contrast, did not rank among the most resonant messages.
The BPI also revealed that potential buyers prefer to hear about Bitcoin from someone close to them: a friend, a family member, or a financial advisor sharing their direct experience. After hearing 19 tested messages, the percentage of respondents who said they had “no interest” in acquiring Bitcoin dropped from 39% to 32%, while those who said they were “very or extremely interested” rose from 19% to 24%.
Return Expectations Are the Engine of Adoption
An academic paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in July 2026, authored by Michael Weber, Bernardo Candia, Olivier Coibion, and Yuriy Gorodnichenko, reinforces these findings from a different angle.
The paper, titled “Do You Even Crypto, Bro? Cryptocurrencies in Household Finance,” analyzed Nielsen Homescan Panel surveys from 2018 to 2025, with between 15,000 and 25,000 households per sample. The central finding is that return expectations predict Bitcoin holdings more accurately than all demographic variables combined.
In 2021, those who owned Bitcoin expected an annual return of 22%, compared to the 7% anticipated by those who did not. In a 2025 experiment, the group that received information about Bitcoin’s 14.3% return recorded the previous year increased its investment intent in crypto assets by 47% and showed a probability 23% higher of making an actual purchase. Household ownership in the United States, meanwhile, climbed from under 2% in 2018 to approximately 12% in 2025.
