Bitcoin gains draw new buyers into crypto, Fed experiment finds

A Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland experiment found that Bitcoin performance information increased later crypto ownership. Participants who received Bitcoin information became about 2.5 percentage points more likely to own crypto. Participants who saw Bitcoin's exact 14.3% return raised their expected crypto return for the following year by 3.2 percentage points relative to a control group. Participants who saw a Bitcoin price chart raised their expected return by about 1.2 percentage points. The Bitcoin treatments increased desired crypto allocations by about 2 percentage points from a control-group average of 4.3%. Participants who received the return information were 2.41 percentage points more likely to report owning crypto later. Participants who saw the chart were 2.48 percentage points more likely to report ownership. The combined result was statistically significant, with a p-value of 0.017. The strongest response came from participants with limited crypto knowledge. The Cleveland Fed classifies the July 2026 paper as preliminary research. The experiment does not show that every Bitcoin rally will create the same level of demand or that new purchases will sustain price gains.