Will Black Investment in Crypto Close the Racial Financial Divide?

When it comes to Black participation in cryptocurrencies, people like to point to numbers from a Harris Poll showing that 23% of African-Americans own crypto compared to 11% of white Americans and 17% of Hispanics.  The reason stated is that Blacks have historically been left out of growing industries like alcohol, marijuana and more, and are now eager to be a part of something new with an upward trend.

But taking a deeper dive into the numbers, you find a Morning Consult poll stating that only 8 percent of crypto owners are African American, and for most of them, the numbers don’t add up to wealth. As a point of fact, Black Americans would need an extra $10 trillion to enjoy a share of America’s wealth that’s proportional to their overall U.S. population percentage.

“Black people, in particular, are very connected to culture. If you think about the internet and you think about memes, all you have to do is check the vernacular. Check what’s happening in culture and music and certainly, Black folks are on the front foot of that,” Brandon Buchanan, founder and managing partner of Meta4 Capital, a crypto-focused investment management firm, told Yahoo Finance this week about Black investment in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) specifically. 

Some are wondering if the crypto risk is worth it for Black Americans.

Crypto coach Carlos Acevado told OtherWords.org. “Never risk money that you are not willing to lose.”

OtherWords.org had this advice, which the authors believe is better than crypto investment: “Universal health care, fairer taxes on the wealthy, and expanded community credit options like postal banking would all reduce the racial wealth divide. Starting small, government-backed trusts for new babies of all races could reduce the gap by tenfold all by itself.”