2022.05.20 为什么加密货币崩溃对美国黑人打击很大？

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Why the crypto crash hit black Americans hard
African-Americans are more likely to own cryptocurrencies
May 20th 2022

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When the dominoes fell, they fell swiftly. On May 11th shares in Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, plummeted after a bleak earnings report. The next day, Terra, one of the best-known stablecoins (cryptocurrencies pegged to a real-life asset, in this case the dollar) crashed after losing its peg, triggering a sell-off across crypto markets. Within 24 hours, $200bn had been wiped off the value of crypto assets.

The “crypto-crash” hit millions of investors. Some lost their life savings. The turmoil may have a particularly big impact on black Americans. They tend to earn less and have less savings than their white counterparts, on average. A survey released last month by Ariel Investments and Charles Schwab, two financial-services companies, found that 25% of black Americans own cryptocurrency, compared with 15% of white Americans. Young African-Americans are even more likely to have invested: almost two-fifths of those under 40 own cryptocurrency, compared with 29% of whites.


The Ariel-Schwab survey found that black respondents were more likely to be both new to investing and highly enthusiastic about crypto: 23% said excitement about cryptocurrency was the reason they started investing; just 10% of white respondents said the same. Black Americans are almost three times as likely to choose cryptocurrency as their first investment (11% versus 4%) and were twice as likely to describe it as the best investment overall (8% versus 4%). The survey also found that black Americans were less likely to invest in conventional financial products—meaning their portfolios may be overexposed to crypto.

Many people are drawn into the cryptosphere by the thrill of its high risks and potential for high reward. But black Americans are typically cautious investors: surveys indicate that they have a lower appetite than average for risk. They are, however, almost twice as likely to describe cryptocurrencies as a safe investment. Fully 30% of black investors believe crypto is regulated by the government (14% of white investors thought the same). In reality it is almost entirely unregulated. Last week Coinbase admitted that its customers would be unprotected if it went bankrupt. According to the Federal Trade Commission, a consumer-protection and antitrust authority, cryptocurrency fraud cost investors $750m in 2021 (good old-fashioned credit-card fraud accounted for $181m).


Cryptocurrencies may appeal to minorities who have tended to be warier of conventional investments than white investors are. According to the Ariel-Schwab survey, black Americans are more likely to think stockmarkets are untrustworthy than white Americans (30% versus 23%). The same is true of financial institutions (28% versus 18%). Indeed African-Americans are more likely to say the stockmarkets are untrustworthy than trustworthy. The percentage of black Americans investing in shares is hardly higher than it was in 1998. But embracing crypto is a risky alternative. ■



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为什么加密货币崩溃对美国黑人打击很大？
非裔美国人更有可能拥有加密货币
2022年5月20日



当多米诺骨牌倒下时，它们迅速地倒下。5月11日，加密货币交易所Coinbase的股票在一份惨淡的收益报告后暴跌。第二天，最著名的稳定币（与现实生活中的资产挂钩的加密货币，在这种情况下是美元）之一Terra在失去其挂钩后崩溃，引发了整个加密货币市场的抛售。在24小时内，加密货币资产的价值被抹去了2000亿美元。

这次 "加密货币崩溃 "打击了数百万投资者。一些人失去了他们一生的积蓄。这场动荡可能对美国黑人有特别大的影响。平均而言，他们的收入和储蓄往往比白人同行要少。Ariel Investments和Charles Schwab这两家金融服务公司上个月发布的一项调查发现，25%的美国黑人拥有加密货币，而美国白人只有15%。年轻的非裔美国人甚至更有可能进行投资：40岁以下的人中几乎有五分之二拥有加密货币，而白人的这一比例为29%。


Ariel-Schwab的调查发现，黑人受访者更有可能既是投资新手，又对加密货币有高度热情：23%的人说对加密货币的兴奋是他们开始投资的原因；只有10%的白人受访者说过同样的话。美国黑人选择加密货币作为他们的第一笔投资的可能性几乎是三倍（11%对4%），将其描述为整体最佳投资的可能性是两倍（8%对4%）。调查还发现，美国黑人不太可能投资于传统金融产品--这意味着他们的投资组合可能过度暴露于加密货币。

许多人被其高风险和潜在的高回报的刺激所吸引，进入加密世界。但美国黑人是典型的谨慎投资者：调查显示，他们对风险的胃口比平均水平低。然而，他们将加密货币描述为安全投资的可能性几乎是两倍。足足有30%的黑人投资者认为加密货币是由政府监管的（14%的白人投资者也这么认为）。实际上，它几乎完全不受监管。上周Coinbase承认，如果它破产，其客户将得不到保护。根据消费者保护和反垄断机构联邦贸易委员会的数据，2021年，加密货币欺诈使投资者损失了7.5亿美元（老式的信用卡欺诈占了1.81亿美元）。


加密货币可能会吸引少数民族，他们往往比白人投资者对传统投资更加警惕。根据Ariel-Schwab的调查，美国黑人比美国白人更有可能认为股票市场不值得信任（30%对23%）。金融机构的情况也是如此（28%对18%）。事实上，非裔美国人更有可能说股票市场不值得信任而不是值得信任。美国黑人投资股票的比例几乎不比1998年高。但拥抱加密货币是一个有风险的选择。■