How Many Crypto Users in the World?

With each passing day, cryptocurrencies have gained new momentum among people in various ways, such as investment, transaction modes, and cash preservative. They are affecting many sectors of the world economy, ranging from decentralized finance to tokenized assets. In this article, we will discuss how cryptocurrencies have prevailed among the masses of the world’s population based on very recent data and research.

Total Number of Cryptocurrency Users

Because of the decentralized nature of the technology and differences in approaches on the level of state regulations, it is impossible to say about the exact number of users of cryptocurrencies. Based on the data provided by different research agencies and analytical companies, though, one may conclude that the number of users has grown substantially over the last years. According to the report, which was published by Crypto.com this year, already more than 220 million users use cryptocurrencies all over the world. This figure clearly shows the dynamics of the growth of the crypto audience: if at the beginning of this year estimates were still around 106 million users, then by June this figure had already doubled.

Growth factors

Among the main factors contributing to such a sharp increase in the number of cryptocurrency users, one may specially point out the following:

• Institutional interest increased. Major investment banks, hedge funds, and corporate investors started to actively include cryptocurrencies in their portfolios, thus enhancing confidence in cryptocurrencies among retail investors.
• Blockchain technology developments. Improvement of the technological base and emergence of new blockchain-based applications such as DeFi and NFT attracted new audiences.
• Economic instability. It is the instability of traditional financial systems of many countries and inflation that make people seek ways of preserving their capital, among which cryptocurrencies look very attractive.

Geographical distribution

There is a heterogeneity in the distribution of users of cryptocurrencies around the world. Countries with developed financial infrastructure—the US, South Korea, and Japan—demonstrate high levels of cryptocurrency adoption. At the same time, cryptocurrencies become more popular in countries with unstable economies, such as Venezuela and Nigeria, to fight inflation and any movement of capital. Lawyers from Regulated United Europe have prepared research on the cryptocurrency market and outlined some trends and patterns, and would like to outline the countries where ordinary people use cryptocurrency the most.

The conclusion is that history and the present state of affairs on the cryptocurrency market show that interest in this innovative form of finance is growing. All over the world, users perceive cryptocurrencies as not only speculation instruments but even a chance to facilitate their financial operations and deeper financial inclusivity. As blockchain technology develops and continues to make its way into economic life, the number of users of cryptocurrencies is bound to increase accordingly.

Countries with the highest value of cryptoassets on stored exchanges

• United States
• India
• United Kingdom
• Turkey
• Russia
• Canada
• Vietnam
• Thailand
• Germany

North America has the leading use of cryptocurrency in the world despite continued regulatory issues. The popularity of stablecoins in the U.S is also falling in popularity. At a value of $1.2 trillion in the past year, North America is currently the largest cryptocurrency market. Regulation will be key to ongoing US cryptocurrency growth.

Latin America accounts for 7% of the global cryptocurrency market. Among Latin American countries, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela have secured notable spots in using cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency has become an important day-to-day life element in most countries of the region, let alone those that have their currency devaluated. In Brazil, trends of cryptocurrency ownership are closer to North America and Western Europe in aspects like trading and altcoin investments.

Mexico is the second largest recipient of remittances globally, with $61 billion transferred to the country from abroad, principally from the United States, annually. The apparent demand for this USDT stablecoin in Argentina is way more significant than in all its neighboring Latin American countries, and this could be well and truly due to the devaluation that Argentina recently faced in its currency. In the case of Argentina, in particular, cryptocurrency aids citizens in keeping their savings safe from devaluation of the Argentine peso, a major factor in their adoption within the country. Argentina has strong inflation and many restrictions on foreign currency purchases. The popularity of cryptocurrency in Argentina, in general, speaks to the singular ability of this asset class to give relief during periods of economic hardness. Like Argentina, Venezuela has also been facing a lot of economic challenges and went through a major currency devaluation; cryptocurrency helped many Venezuelans keep their savings as the local currency bolivar lost its value. Meanwhile, in the last ten years, approximately 25% of the population has fled the country, making cryptocurrency transfers a huge chunk of the Venezuelan economy.

Western Europe – 18% of the Global Cryptocurrency Market

In Europe, the highest volume of trading is provided by the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, France and the Netherlands. Central, Northern and Western Europe became the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency economy this year, after only North America. In the UK, consumers are interested in cryptocurrency both from an investment and a technological point of view. The typical customers of exchanges look towards cryptocurrency as a means of alternative investments for the low returns earned from saving investments in banks. The MiCA has literally opened the European Union to the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. With clear, uniform rules and a focus on consumer protection across the EU, it creates a safe environment that builds confidence in the market, opening up cryptocurrency both to individual investors and institutions. Interestingly enough, such interest still attracts only about 9% of the total global cryptocurrency market.

Eastern Europe-9% of the global cryptocurrency market

Eastern Europe is the fourth largest cryptocurrency market and has a total value of US$445 billion. In the last year, DeFi activity in Eastern Europe was one of only three regions in the world that increased.

Central and South Asia – 19% of the global cryptocurrency market

Countries with the highest value of cryptoassets on exchanges

• India
• Vietnam
• Thailand
• Indonesia
• Philippines
• Singapore

It is the most dynamic and growing cryptocurrency market in the world, and home to arguably the third-largest one by transaction volume, only second to North America and Western Asia. However, the total transaction volume does not give a full picture. If one factors in purchasing power and population size to measure mass adoption, then Central and South Asia dominated the global cryptocurrency market: six of the top ten cryptocurrency adoption countries in the world were located in the region, namely, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Thailand. Meanwhile, DeFi has become even more important in the region during the past year: they account for around 55.8% of the regional transaction volume, up from 35.2% in the preceding one-year period. This also seems to have gained pace in institutional adoption within the region, with 68.8 per cent of the total transaction volume accounting for transfers of $1 million-plus, against 57.6 per cent in the previous period.

India continues to create the topmost chart in the world as a cryptocurrency market despite its harshest tax laws. India leads the chain in mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and also emerged as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency market in terms of total transaction volume. That is despite India taxing cryptocurrency activity at a far steeper rate than most other nations, imposing a 30% tax on cryptocurrency profits and an additional 1% on all crypto transactions.

It showed that online gaming and gambling platforms accounted for a huge share of cryptocurrency-related web traffic at 19.9 per cent in the Philippines, followed by Vietnam at just 10.8 per cent. The Philippines has all it takes to become the leading country in cryptocurrencies; the country can be the Blockchain Capital of Asia.

The general impression is that high inflation and devaluation in Pakistan explain why many people in the country have started to move toward cryptocurrency. Companies make use of stablecoins, such as USDT, in importing goods from abroad for hedging against high levels of inflation and devaluation of the local currency in Pakistan.

East Asia – 9% of the global cryptocurrency market.

Countries with the most significant value of cryptoassets on exchanges

• South Korea
• Japan
• China
• Taiwan
• Hong Kong

It is the most dynamic and growing cryptocurrency market in the world, and home to arguably the third-largest one by transaction volume, only second to North America and Western Asia. However, the total transaction volume does not give a full picture. If one factors in purchasing power and population size to measure mass adoption, then Central and South Asia dominated the global cryptocurrency market: six of the top ten cryptocurrency adoption countries in the world were located in the region, namely, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Thailand. Meanwhile, DeFi has become even more important in the region during the past year: they account for around 55.8% of the regional transaction volume, up from 35.2% in the preceding one-year period. This also seems to have gained pace in institutional adoption within the region, with 68.8 per cent of the total transaction volume accounting for transfers of $1 million-plus, against 57.6 per cent in the previous period.

India continues to create the topmost chart in the world as a cryptocurrency market despite its harshest tax laws. India leads the chain in mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and also emerged as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency market in terms of total transaction volume. That is despite India taxing cryptocurrency activity at a far steeper rate than most other nations, imposing a 30% tax on cryptocurrency profits and an additional 1% on all crypto transactions.

It showed that online gaming and gambling platforms accounted for a huge share of cryptocurrency-related web traffic at 19.9 per cent in the Philippines, followed by Vietnam at just 10.8 per cent. The Philippines has all it takes to become the leading country in cryptocurrencies; the country can be the Blockchain Capital of Asia.

The general impression is that high inflation and devaluation in Pakistan explain why many people in the country have started to move toward cryptocurrency. Companies make use of stablecoins, such as USDT, in importing goods from abroad for hedging against high levels of inflation and devaluation of the local currency in Pakistan.

East Asia – 9% of the global cryptocurrency market.

Countries with the most significant value of cryptoassets on exchanges

• Turkey
• UAE
• Saudi Arabia
• Iran
• Israel

It has created Dubai as a global hotbed in the cryptocurrency industry by embracing a regulatory regime friendly to innovation that would grant licenses to new, ground-breaking crypto platforms developed under tight government supervision for consumer safety. This, in turn, perhaps explains why DeFi finds more use there, being in many ways the cutting edge of blockchain technology. The fact that UAE regulators adopted cryptocurrency relatively early—its most populous city, Dubai, was the first to roll out a blockchain strategy in 2016—might have contributed to this. Since then, UAE regulators have remained at the forefront of the industry. In 2018, Abu Dhabi Global Market launched the world’s first regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, with the twin goals of encouraging innovation while protecting consumers and ensuring the UAE is best placed to take advantage of the digital economy. Dubai established its own regulator last year, the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), also with similar ambitions. The UAE enacted more federal cryptocurrency regulations earlier this year, adding to the latitude it gave VARA and other local regulators in regulating free economic zones in the hope of luring innovation in cryptocurrency.

But Turkey is investing the bulk of its activity in centralized exchanges, with its users seeming to target cryptocurrency more for offsetting the devaluation of the Turkish Lira. It is also the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency transaction market, having received about $170 billion in transactions in the last year, second only to the United States, India, and the United Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia leads the world in annual growth of cryptocurrency transactions. No country has grown its cryptocurrency economy more than Saudi Arabia in the last year, with annual transaction growth of 12 per cent.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest crypto economy.

Countries with the largest positive growth in cryptocurrency transaction volume over the past year

• Saudi Arabia
• Vietnam
• Nigeria
• Spain
• Taiwan
• Indonesia

Crypto research conclusions

The first key finding here is that Central and South Asia dominates cryptocurrency adoption globally. While mass adoption of cryptocurrencies in developed countries is on the decline, the adoption in developing countries is only increasing—a trend likely to be even more pronounced over the next few years. This may be super promising about the future prospects of cryptocurrencies. Low- and middle-income countries are often countries on the rise, with thriving, developing industries and populations. Many have undergone significant economic development over the past few decades and have emerged from the low-income group.