Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty has pushed back on the idea that cryptocurrency remains a niche pursuit of young male speculators, arguing the industry's user base now looks a lot more like the country at large than critics acknowledge.
Alderoty was responding to a Wall Street Journal Opinion piece that criticized the Senate's proposed CLARITY Act, the digital-asset market-structure bill, while referring to the industry's supporters as "the crypto boys." The editorial acknowledged the legislation would provide regulatory clarity but raised concerns about potential loopholes for stablecoin rewards and exemptions for decentralized networks.
The numbers behind the pushback
Alderoty cited figures showing roughly 67 million Americans currently hold cryptocurrency, with users spanning "teachers, construction workers, veterans, nurses, parents, and small business owners." He noted that one-third of U.S. crypto owners are women and that more holders are over age 55 than under 25.
Those figures track closely with the National Cryptocurrency Association's 2026 State of Crypto Holders Report, which surveyed 10,000 U.S. adults through The Harris Poll and found crypto ownership had grown by 12 million people since 2025 — now covering roughly one in four American adults. That report found recent buyers were more likely to be female than earlier adopters, and that technology, financial services, construction, and manufacturing workers together make up nearly half of all holders.
Related: CLARITY Act Still Short on Votes as Ethics Fight Stalls Senate
A bill still short on votes
Ji Kim, CEO of the Blockchain Association, went further, saying the Journal editorial contained "factual and legal inaccuracies." The dispute comes as the CLARITY Act itself remains stalled in the Senate, with the chamber still short on the votes needed to advance the market-structure framework.
A political headwind
The demographic argument arrives alongside a less favorable political data point for the industry: a poll from a Democratic research firm found that 84% of Democratic primary voters view crypto-industry-backed candidates unfavorably, ranking the sector more negatively than oil companies, Wall Street banks, and data centers. That disconnect — broadening everyday adoption on one hand, hardening partisan skepticism on the other — is shaping up to be one of the more difficult crosscurrents for the industry's lobbying push as the CLARITY Act debate drags into the fall.
