Eighteen per cent of all Australian parents have bought cryptocurrency as a nest egg for their children, a national survey has found.

Another 25 per cent intend to do so in the future, according to the YouGov survey of more than 2,700 Aussie parents with children under the age of 18 in the home.

Aussie dads were more than twice as likely as mums to report holding digital assets in trust for their kids.

The national poll was commissioned by the Australian crypto exchange Swyftx, which said it was the largest ever survey conducted on crypto in Australia.

“Parents are looking at the cost of assets like housing and higher education and projecting forwards,” said Swyftx high-value account manager, Pav Hundal.

“In particular, there’s a lot of anxiety over how their kids will get on the property ladder if house prices continue to increase by 7 per cent or more a year.”

“Investing in digital assets is regarded by many crypto owning parents, especially dads, as a defensive strategy against future increases in the value of residential property.”

In total 40 per cent of Australian parents own or have owned digital assets, compared to the national average of 25 per cent of the rest of the population.

Eighty-six per cent of parents said they’d made a profit on their crypto in the past 12 months – an average of $12,428.

YouGov carried out the survey between July 19 and 24, polling 2,768 Australian parents, including 513 current crypto holders.

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