Introduction
It’s been said that the idea of cryptocurrency first came to light in 1983 when David Chaum, an American cryptographer, conceived an anonymous electronic cryptographic money that relied on blind signatures. It’s believed that this was the first cryptocurrency ever to exist, and he called it ecash, which was later implemented through Digicash in 1995. Numerous other events would go on to shape what we know as cryptocurrency today, and in 2009 the first ever decentralised cryptocurrency currency was created called Bitcoin by a pseudonymous developer named Satoshi Nakamoto.
Since then, it has completely reshaped the world’s financial system, and from Bitcoin, it has morphed into thousands of other cryptocurrencies available through hundreds of different crypto exchanges and brokers. At MadCrypto, we live and breathe crypto, so we had a lot of fun researching and compiling this article with some fascinating cryptocurrency statistics.
Cryptocurrency Statistics (Editors Picks)
- Cryptocurrency owners: As of June 2022, 321 million people owned cryptocurrency.
- Bitcoin market cap share: As of July 03, 2022, Bitcoin made up 42.18% of the total market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin peak value: Around its peak in November 2021, the value of all Bitcoins was equivalent to 2.9% of the combined value of the world’s money supply. That’s a staggering $1.03 trillion worth of Bitcoin
- Cryptocurrencies number: As of July 01, 2022, there were 10,043 cryptocurrencies
- Blockchain market growth predictions: By 2025, financial analysts say the global blockchain market will grow by $39.17 billion U.S. dollars
- Global regulation: 130 countries currently allow the usage of cryptocurrency
- Consumer spending insights: Groceries are what most people spend their crypto on, with 51% of all crypto spent on daily goods in 2021
- Credit cards usage: Visa said that its customers made $2.5 billion in payments with its crypto-linked cards in its fiscal first quarter of 2022
- Cryptocurrency ATMs: As of July 2022, there are 38,320 Crypto ATMs, in 77 countries, with 46 producers and 607 operators.
- Owner gains: The United States earned the most amount of money from crypto in 2021, gaining $47 billion
- UniSwap is the largest DeFi crypto exchange as of July 12, 2022, with a 7-day trading volume of $7 billion and a market share of 69.7%
- Bitcoin all-time high: Bitcoin’s highest price was $69,044.77 on November 10, 2021
How Many People Own Cryptocurrency?
Total Cryptocurrency Owners
According to recent research, at the beginning of 2022, 295 million people owned cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency Owners By Country
Top 20 Countries where crypto is mainly owned and used. The United States may have the greatest number of crypto owners, but it’s only 13.74% of the population. Vietnam stands out as the country with the highest percentage of the overall population of crypto users, sitting at 20.27%.
The Chainalysis Geography of Cryptocurrency report states some interesting facts about cryptocurrency use in developing countries like Vietnam, Argentina, and Venezuela. It puts the high use down to the fact that there are no other viable investment tools and opportunities.
The report also speaks of Russia and Ukraine; although dated February 2022 (before the invasion of Ukraine began), the high number of crypto users indicates the confidence citizens have in financial institutions and the use of cryptocurrency to avoid tax. Since then, with the invasion of Ukraine, crypto use has increased in Ukraine as it became a vital way to provide aid and support from Western countries.
Where cryptocurrency is most used:
Here Are the Exact Numbers:
| Country | Number of crypto owners | Percentage of the population |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 46,020,521 | 13.60% |
| India | 27,416,309 | 1.93% |
| Pakistan | 26,457,317 | 11.22% |
| Nigeria | 22,332,791 | 10.22% |
| Vietnam | 20,210,834 | 20.58% |
| China | 19,883,262 | 1.39% |
| Brazil | 16,652,150 | 7.73% |
| Russia | 14,647,694 | 10.12% |
| Indonesia | 12,237,009 | 4.44% |
| South Africa | 7,712,116 | 12.88% |
| Ukraine | 6,825,421 | 17.19% |
| Germany | 4,990,845 | 5.99% |
| United Kingdom | 4,421,245 | 6.55% |
| France | 3,623,479 | 5.61% |
| Netherland | 952,657 | 5.42% |
| Australia | 812,545 | 3.10% |
Cryptocurrency Owners Growth Rate (International)
With its emergence in 2009, cryptocurrency has come a long way in being recognised globally and adopted by millions of investors. 2021 stood out as one of the most explosive years for cryptocurrency, with ownership almost tripling between January and December. At the start of 2022, it’s estimated that there were just under 300 million crypto owners, with data suggesting no signs of slowing. Breakdown below:
- 2016: 5,000,000 crypto owners
- 2017: 18,000,000 crypto owners (260% increase)
- 2018: 35,000,000 crypto owners (94.4% increase)
- Q3 2020: 101,000,000 crypto owners (188.5% increase)
- Jan 2021: 106,000,000 crypto owners (4.9% increase)
- Jan 2022: 295,000,000 crypto owners (178.3% increase)
- June 2022: 321,000,000 crypto owners (8.8% increase)
Sources: Yahoo, ctfassets, Chainalysis, TripleA, Statista, Crypto.com, Worldpopulationreviews
Cryptocurrency Owners Demographics
Cryptocurrency continues to be dominated by male investors, which Business Insider suggests is because of the predominantly male-dominated financial sector. Still, Binance Research tells a story of a rising number of female investors. Another interesting stat is that most crypto owners are under 34 years old as the younger generation grasps and adapts to technology more than older generations. Other demographics include:
- 63% male, 37% female
- 72% aged under 34
- 71% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher
- The average crypto owner earns about $25000 per year
- In the U.S., users are 62% white, 24% Hispanic, 8% black, and 6% Asian/other
Sources: Datareportal, Binance, TripleA, CNBC, Business Insider
Bitcoin Owners
It’s hard and probably impossible to know how many Bitcoin owners there are because of the very premise of cryptocurrency, the decentralised aspect, and the anonymity behind owning the digital currency. Yes, there are KYC policies in place in all the regulated jurisdictions, but a large proportion of Bitcoin ownership remains anonymous. The most common way to estimate the amount of Bitcoin owners is to look at the wallet addresses that hold crypto, and even then, it’s not uncommon for one person to have multiple wallets.
Blockchain.com, which makes purchasing Bitcoin possible, reached over 81 million wallet users in 2022. Fortune.com also reported an estimated 114 million accounts hold Bitcoin. Most Bitcoin owners only hold a minuscule amount, adding to the vast ownership number, but 0.01% of Bitcoin holders control nearly a third of the supply.
Bitcoin Owners’ percentage out of the total of Cryptocurrency owners
As of July 03 2022, Bitcoin made up 42.18% of the total market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies.
Some other interesting stats about Bitcoin ownership includes:
- Around its peak in November 2021, the value of all Bitcoins was equivalent to 2.9% of the combined value of the world’s money supply. That’s a staggering $1.03 trillion worth of Bitcoin.
- 0.01% of all Bitcoin holders control 27% of the Bitcoin supply. 10,000 Bitcoin accounts hold 5 million out of the 19 million Bitcoins in circulation
- The creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is rumoured to own 1 million Bitcoins, which would be worth about $20 billion at the time of writing
Sources: Statista, Fortune.com, CoinMarketCap, Investopedia
Estimated # of crypto Millionaires/billionaires
The number of crypto millionaires will depend on the value of Bitcoin on any given day. It’s also difficult to provide an exact number because wallets are anonymous. CBS News reported that at least 100,000 people had $1 million worth of Bitcoin, but that was in February 2021, when Bitcoin was worth around $50,000.
Bitcoin whales, or those that can move the Bitcoin price with one trade because of the sheer amount of Bitcoin they own, are becoming increasingly prominent the more Bitcoin is mined. They’re mostly crypto billionaires, and some standout whales include:
- The Winklevoss twins, which, if you read our Gemini review, would know more about their notoriety around legal battles with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. But they saw Bitcoin’s potential in 2012 and bought a large amount of them.
- Matthew Roszak – venture capitalist, chairman, and co-founder of Bloq, Forbes estimates Roszak owns $1.2 billion in crypto
- Tim Draper – Forbes believes Draper owns $1.1 billion in crypto
- Michael Saylor – Inventor and CEO of MicroStrategy. He owns 17,700 bitcoin, and his company bought over $1 billion worth.
How many cryptocurrencies are there in 2022?
Making a cryptocurrency is relatively simple, and those with basic programming knowledge can create one in a few steps. You can even pay someone on Fiverr to do it for you. With that, the number of cryptocurrencies is expanding rapidly, though not all of them will be worth much.https://www.madcrypto.com/statistics/number-of-cryptocurrencies/
As of July 01 2022, there were 10,043 tradeable cryptocurrencies, according to Coinbase.
Cryptocurrency Growth Over Time
Here are the exact numbers:
| Date | Number of Cryptocurrencies |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 66 |
| 2014 | 506 |
| 2015 | 562 |
| 2016 | 644 |
| 2017 | 1335 |
| March 2018 | 1658 |
| November 2019 | 2817 |
| February 2021 | 4501 |
| July 2021 | 6044 |
| August 2021 | 5840 |
| October 2021 | 6826 |
| November 2021 | 7557 |
| January 2022 | 9929 |
| February 2022 | 10397 |
Top Cryptocurrency Assets By Market Cap
There are thousands of cryptocurrencies, the majority of which have little value and uncertain potential.
By far the most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, which is followed by Ethereum, Binance Coin, XRP, Cardano, and Solana.
Here is a complete breakdown of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap (excluding stablecoins):
| # | Crypto | Price | Market Cap | All-Time High | All-Time Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bitcoin (BTC) | $24,091.77 | $461,339,812,292 | $68,789.63 | $65.53 |
| 2 | Ethereum (ETH) | $1,769.02 | $216,178,829,635 | $4,891.70 | $0.4209 |
| 3 | BNB (BNB) | $329.98 | $53,223,964,284 | $690.93 | $0.09611 |
| 4 | XRP (XRP) | $0.3815 | $18,498,311,748 | $3.84 | $0.002802 |
| 5 | Cardano (ADA) | $0.5428 | $18,422,537,344 | $3.10 | $0.01735 |
| 6 | Solana (SOL) | $42.55 | $14,865,127,448 | $260.06 | $0.5052 |
| 7 | Polkadot (DOT) | $9.31 | $10,283,390,084 | $55.00 | $2.69 |
| 8 | Dogecoin (DOGE) | $0.07086 | $9,399,474,232 | $0.7376 | $0.00008547 |
| 9 | Avalanche (AVAX) | $29.95 | $8,467,576,882 | $146.22 | $2.79 |
| 10 | Polygon (MATIC) | $0.9442 | $7,587,617,499 | $2.92 | $0.003012 |
| 11 | Uniswap (UNI) | $9.15 | $6,823,082,234 | $44.97 | $0.419 |
| 12 | Shiba Inu (SHIB) | $0.00001242 | $6,821,207,383 | $0.00008845 | $0.000000000082 |
| 13 | TRON (TRX) | $0.07072 | $6,535,751,610 | $0.3004 | $0.001091 |
| 14 | Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) | $24,082.08 | $5,704,569,223 | $162,188.26 | $3,330.12 |
| 15 | Ethereum Classic (ETC) | $39.11 | $5,325,199,810 | $176.16 | $0.4524 |
| 16 | UNUS SED LEO (LEO) | $4.85 | $4,625,679,566 | $8.04 | $0.8036 |
| 17 | Litecoin (LTC) | $63.77 | $4,515,939,077 | $412.96 | $1.11 |
| 18 | FTX Token (FTT) | $31.61 | $4,256,560,967 | $85.02 | $0.8313 |
| 19 | Chainlink (LINK) | $8.64 | $4,048,122,584 | $52.88 | $0.1263 |
| 20 | NEAR Protocol (NEAR) | $8.64 | $4,019,748,629 | $20.42 | $0.526 |
*As of August 08, 2022.
Top Cryptocurrencies’ Key Statistics
- The highest market cap of all time was $2,904,441,786,523 USD on Wednesday, November 10, 2021
- Bitcoin’s highest market cap of all time was $1.26 T on November 09, 2021
- Bitcoin market cap dominance on August 07, 2022, was 40.34%
- Ethereum’s highest market cap was 569 B on November 13, 2022
Biggest Crypto Gainers In The First Half Of 2021
2021 could be dubbed ‘The Year of the Altcoin’ as many altcoins’ popularity exploded, as seen in the graph below. Dogecoin was up by 7,555% by May 04 2021, followed by Maker with 760%, Ethereum with 324%, Dash with 198%, Litecoin with 115%, and Bitcoin with 113%.
Biggest Crypto Losers In 2022
Market Cap Predictions 2022 – 2030
Cryptocurrency is inherently volatile, so predicting where it will be in 5, 10, or even 20 years is challenging for the average trader. There are so many variables at play, but we looked at what some experts predict.
- By 2025, financial analysts say, the global blockchain market will grow by $39.17 billion U.S. dollars.
- TechNewsLeader predicts Dogecoin will be the biggest gainer, rising to as much as $4.34 in 2030, which is a 2867% gain.
- A former Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager, Raoul Pal, predicts the whole crypto market cap to be around 100 times more than what it is today by 2030, which would be about $250 trillion. He’s put this down to crypto network adoption models and drew comparisons to other markets and asset classes.
Sources: Coinmarketcap, Technewsleader, Cointelegraph, Statista
Cryptocurrency Legality Around the World
How Many countries allow the usage of cryptocurrency?
Regulations continue to evolve and change as the popularity of crypto grows. Many countries struggle to control how people trade crypto, significantly impacting budgets and taxes. One of the most notable regulatory changes was by China in the later part of 2021, which placed an outright ban on crypto trading in any form. Still, it continues to gain popularity worldwide.
130 countries allow the usage of cryptocurrency.
Sources: loc.gov, Fortune, Statista
Cryptocurrency Adoption Statistics
How do people spend their crypto?
Spending your crypto on everyday products and services is becoming increasingly more accessible, with more and more exchanges offering crypto debit/credit cards or ways to spend your crypto from your mobile app. Crypto.com offers arguably one of the most established and most well-known crypto debit cards, which is provided by Visa. It reported the following stats on how consumers spent their crypto in 2021.
- Groceries is what most people spend their crypto on, with 51% of all crypto spent on daily goods
- Fashion spending growth was up 50% compared to 2020, and transportation and recreation saw the second biggest spending growth rate, with both up by 46%
- Ticketing, which includes concerts, sporting events, art exhibitions, etc., saw a growth of 133%. Travel grew by 32% and dining by 17%
- 66% of travel spending was done in Europe
- The online shopping category was dominated by Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress with 37%, 19%, and 16%, respectively
Top Industries that accept crypto
BitPay, which provides the leading way to bridge the gap between cryptocurrency and the traditional financial system by allowing people to spend their crypto like they would fiat currency, provided the following stats on where consumers are spending crypto:
As of June 2022:
- Prepaid/Gift Cards – 35.51%
- Internet – 19.12%
- VPN/Hosting – 15.21%
- Computer Games – 10.92%
- Logistics – 3.71%
- IT – 2.66%
- Precious Metals – 2.03%
- Consumers Electronics – 1.57%
- Telecommunications – 1.2%
- Marketing – 1.09%
- Other – 6.97%
Top Brands That Accept Cryptocurrency
Some of the biggest companies in the world started accepting crypto in its infancy, with Overstock leading the way in early 2014. PayPal soon jumped on the bandwagon, and Microsoft, not wanting to fall behind in the tech race, followed suit by accepting Bitcoin for games and other digital content. Some other notable companies and brands include:
- Microsoft – began accepting Bitcoin in December 2014 as payment for games and other digital content
- PayPal – Began accepting just before Microsoft in September 2014
- Overstock – became the first major retailer to accept crypto in January 2014
- Whole Foods – Began accepting crypto from May 2019
- Etsy – Not a crypto retailer per se, but sellers using Etsy can add the option to accept Bitcoin if they want to
- Starbucks – started accepting crypto in March 2020 only through its mobile app
- NewEgg – One of the biggest retailers to let you pay with Bitcoin outright, instead of converting it to cash first
- Home Depot – Using the same Flexa network as Whole Foods
- Rakuten – began accepting Bitcoin as payment from 2015
- Twitch – Unlike most companies that only accept Bitcoin, twitch lets you use Bitcoin Cash, Ether, BUSD, PAX, GUSD, USDC, and XRP
- Cheapair.com – accepts Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Gemini, USD coin, Paxos Standard, BUSD, Dai, and Wrapped BTC
- AMC Theatres – customers can pay online using Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin
- AT&T – You can pay your bill through BitPay
- Dish Network – Uses BitPay since 2018 to process payments
- Wikipedia – Accepts donations in Bitcoin
Cryptocurrency Wallets Usage Over Time
Our extensive list of crypto exchange reviews will explain that there are many types of crypto wallets, and one user can have as many wallets as they please. This makes tracking the number of wallets difficult, but we looked at a couple of the biggest wallet providers. As of July 2022, Blockchain.com reported more than 83 million wallet users. Coinbase, with more than 98 million users, will have at least that many wallets. That’s more than 180 million combined, without considering the other prominent exchanges.
Crypto Credit Cards Transactions and Merchants
During its recent earnings call, Visa said its customers made $2.5 billion in payments with its crypto-linked cards in its fiscal first quarter of 2022. This equates to 70% of the company’s crypto volume for all of its fiscal 2021 period.
Visa crypto wallet partners grew from 54 to 65 in 2021, including Coinbase, Circle, and BlockFi.
The number of merchants grew to almost 100 million.
Where crypto investors earned the most
The United States earned the most amount of money from crypto, gaining $47 billion. The U.K. came in 2nd with $8.2 billion, and Germany 3rd with $5.8 billion. It’s also worth noting the difference in crypto gains between 2020 and 2021 worldwide, with 2020 achieving $32.5 billion and 2021 increasing fivefold to $162.7 billion.
Cryptocurrency ATMs Statistics
Coin ATM Radar tracks the number of crypto ATMs around the world and lets users locate crypto ATMs near them in real-time. It reports that many ATMs support using Zcash, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin, Altcoins, Litecoin, Ether, Dogecoin, Ripple, Lightning BTC, Tether, Dash, and Monero. Some interesting crypto ATM stats can be found below:
- There are 39,009 Crypto ATMs, in 78 countries
- More than 97% of ATMs are located in the united states
Sources: Crypto.com, Bitpay, Yahoo, Gobankinrates, Blockchain.com, CNBC, FXStreet, Coinatmradar
Decentralised Financing Statistics
Understanding decentralised finance, or DeFi, can be highly confusing as many facets of cryptocurrency and financial systems can fall under the DeFi umbrella. In short, it refers to any financial services or products built on an unregulated and decentralised blockchain infrastructure. It’s the premise for which cryptocurrency was designed: to be anonymous and untraceable and allow anyone to access financial services with just an internet connection. Some statistics of the DeFi market include:
- Market Size: $77.29 billion
- Number of DeFi users: 4.8 million
- Ethereum market share in the overall DeFi market: 63.4%
- The U.S. has the highest interaction with the DeFi market, with Vietnam and Thailand following in 2nd and 3rd
- In May 2021, the DeFi market cap reached more than 5% of the total crypto market cap worldwide
- UniSwap is the largest DeFi exchange as of July 12, 2022, with a 7-day trading volume of $7 billion and a market share of 69.7%
Sources: Statista, Statista², Statista³, Dune.com, DeFi Llama
Crypto Exchanges Statistics
How Many Crypto Exchanges Are There?
As Cryptocurrency becomes more popular and regulated around the world, Crypto Exchanges are on the rise. It’s difficult to estimate the current number of crypto exchanges because they are not registered with any central body.
As of August 07, 2022, there are 477 crypto Exchanges.
Top 10 Reliable Crypto Exchanges
| Exchange | Daily Volume | Monthly Visits | Number of Coins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | $7,725,408,611 | 121,022,074 | 393 |
| OKX | $1,215,911,802 | 9,233,534 | 366 |
| Coinbase | $901,174,970 | 7,667,803 | 211 |
| FTX | $788,756,707 | 18,681,159 | 321 |
| Gate.io | $685,560,568 | 10,817,041 | 1458 |
| KuCoin | $684,087,834 | 12,485,425 | 727 |
| Huobi Global | $577,263,131 | 4,314,296 | 610 |
| Crypto.com | $201,842,809 | 8,549,038 | 222 |
| Kraken | $191,002,172 | 7,833,604 | 197 |
| Bitfinex | $188,897,732 | 5,012,199 | 180 |
*As of August 07, 2022.
What exchange has the most crypto coins
Conclusion
That’s a wrap for my roundup of Cryptocurrency statistics.
The popularity of cryptocurrency has skyrocketed.
And, while there has been some volatility, the overall trend remains positive.