Nearly 100 million people owned cryptocurrencies in 2021.
The number of people owning cryptocurrencies has seen substantial growth over the past 3 years.
According to a report published by the Cryptocom platform, Cryptocurrency ownership will increase significantly in 2023, which indicates a trend towards the adoption of digital assets, which have become safer alternatives for investment and saving value.
The platform published a report, titled “Crypto Market Sizing – Global Crypto Owners Reached 580M”, which highlights that Cryptocurrency owners and holders increased by 34% in 2023, reaching a total of 580 million people worldwide.
By 2021, the number of people owning cryptocurrencies was approximately 100 million, which represents an increase in crypto asset holdings of 500% since then.
Bitcoin is the most held cryptocurrency in the world
Cryptocom’s report attributes the rise in global cryptocurrency holdings and ownership to several factors, including increased adoption of Bitcoin by financial institutions, technological innovation in the blockchain sector, with leading projects such as Ethereum, Celestia and Polkadot in constant development, and growing public awareness of the advantages that cryptocurrencies offer, both for conducting business transactions, remittances, investment and store of value.
According to the analysis, in the case of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency with the highest market capitalization saw its number of users grow by 33% in the last year, rising from 222 million people in January 2023 to 296 million people at the end of December of that same year. This increase represents 51% of cryptocurrency holders worldwide.
Factors that increased the adoption of cryptocurrencies
The platform highlighted that Bitcoin has achieved a high rate of adoption worldwide, thanks to several key factors, such as the Bitcoin ETFs launched, which were approved by the SEC on January 10 and generated great appetite among users and investors in the months prior to their approval.
On the other hand, the development of the Ordinals protocol, which allowed the introduction of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto-collectibles directly to the Bitcoin blockchain, also plays a crucial role in the levels of use and adoption of the cryptocurrency.
At the time of writing this article, there are More than 56,7 million ordinal entries recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain, a pretty impressive figure, considering that the protocol has been released to the public for just over a year.
Ethereum, the 2nd most adopted cryptocurrency globally
Another of the most widely adopted cryptocurrencies worldwide is Ethereum, the second most capitalized in the market and the leading network par excellence for the development of smart contracts and decentralized applications.
According to the platform, Ethereum's adoption rate also increased significantly in 2023, rising from 89 million people to 124 million people as of the end of December.
The current number of Ethereum users and holders equals 21% of all crypto holders globally
In the report, analysts comment that the main driver of this impressive growth was the Shanghai update. This allowed the network's validators to withdraw the ETH they had deposited in the Beacon Chain contract since December 2020, with the aim of ensuring the maintenance of the network throughout the change process it was going to experience. Let us remember that Ethereum migrated from the Proof fo Work consensus protocol to the Proof of Stake consensus protocol in September 2022, abandoning crypto mining as part of its process to transform into a more scalable and ecological network.
Analysts highlighted that these and other important developments were key to the growth of the cryptocurrency market, which is worth over $1,5 trillion today. They also indicated that the rise in cryptocurrency ownership levels reflects a shift in the financial paradigm, where cryptoassets are increasingly gaining space and recognition.
Globally, the cryptocurrency market continues to face challenges. Still, many believe that these digital assets have a promising future and will be an essential part of the new global financial model.
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