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How many people use cryptocurrency? (2024)
Cryptocurrency has exploded over the past decade.
In 2013, there were only 7 cryptocurrencies. Today, there are more 10,000 active cryptocurrencies.
Collectively, cryptocurrencies hold more than $2.4 trillion value.
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Statistics on major cryptocurrencies
The statistics presented in this article cover the cryptocurrency markets, investments, daily usage, and cryptocurrency mining. Here are some of the key statistics to get you started:
- There is more than 560 million cryptocurrency users worldwide
- Bitcoin compensates about 50% of the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies
- Binance users trade more than $11.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency every 24 hours
- Bitcoin’s record closing price hit a high at more than $73,000
- There is almost 40,000 cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide
How many people use cryptocurrency?
The latest data shows that there is about 560 million cryptocurrency users worldwide.
Source: Triple A
Bitcoin Statistics
For years, Bitcoin Dominates the Crypto Industry.
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization (as of July 2024) is $2.2 trillion. Bitcoin represents about 50% of this.
Still, this is a notable drop from 2021, when Bitcoin was only less than 60% of the market.
The current price of Bitcoin has reached an all-time high at more than $73,000 (March 14, 2024).
Source: CoinGecko
Cryptocurrency by region
Although cryptocurrency has a reputation as a global currency, the use and trading of cryptocurrencies is still prohibited in 51 countries — mainly in Africa and the Middle East.
Data from 2023 suggests that 47% Nigerians and Turks own or use cryptocurrencies.
In 2024, 30% of Argentines own cryptocurrencies.
On the other hand, only 16% of Americans own or use cryptocurrencies.
In terms of cryptocurrency distribution, more than half is in Asia (327 million).
Together, the United Arab Emirates (25.3%) and Singapore (24.4%) represent about half of all Bitcoin owners.
Although cryptocurrencies are currently banned in China, the country is showing great interest in blockchain technology. In 2021, China processed more than 16,000 new blockchain patent applications.
However, in the first quarter of 2024, the United States has a 57% share of all patent filings. This represents an increase of 22% in the fourth quarter of 2023 35%.
China has a 8% share of patent filings. And the UK has a 2% share.
In total, 34% of the world’s crypto hedge funds are based in the tax-friendly Cayman Islands. The United States is close behind 33%.
As for crypto hedge fund managers, 43% live in the United States, 19% in the UK and 11% in Hong Kong.
Sources: Money.com, Triple A, Statista, Statista (2), Watercraft
Cryptographic cyber attacks
Hackers stole more than $75 billion worth of cryptocurrency since June 2013.
In December 2020, about 15 billion dollars Millions of cryptocurrencies have been lost to exploits, hacks, and scams.
By October 2023, this figure has increased significantly to reach more than 77 billion dollars.
The largest single attack has seen about 40 billion dollars lost in May 2022 Terra Classic lost $40 billion during a bank run.
However, as of October 2023, about 6 billion dollars has been recovered.
The pirates stole more than $1.38 billion of cryptocurrency by June 2024, more than double that of the first half of 2023 $657 million.
Cryptocurrency Trading Statistics
People use trading platforms like Binance and Coinbase to trade cryptocurrencies and track prices.
CoinMarketCap tracks trading volume for 250 different cryptocurrency exchanges.
Binance users trade $11.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency every 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Coinbase’s user base has grown from 23 million verified users in 2018 at more than 110 million Today.
In total, 62% of US cryptocurrency owners use Coinbase.
Sources: CoinMarketCap, Coinbase, Statista
Cryptocurrency User Statistics
There is more than 560 million cryptocurrency users worldwide. This represents an increase of about 112x since 2016 (5 millions).
From these, 61% are men and 39% are women.
And almost 3 out of 4 (72%) are under 34 years old.
About 4 out of 5 (83.2%) American cryptocurrency owners own Bitcoins.
Despite the thousands of cryptocurrencies available, Bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency in the United States.
Other popular cryptocurrencies include Ethereum (48.7%).
Fast-casual and fast-food restaurants are more likely to accept crypto payments than any other business.
A Statista survey on 21,941 companies have found that 1,904 Fast food restaurants and casual dining restaurants either had cryptocurrency ATMs or accepted cryptocurrencies as payment.
The top 5 is completed by:
In the meantime, 72% game development studios are “not interested” in accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method.
From 2022, only 1% game developers have said they are currently accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method, with 21% saying they were “somewhat interested” and 6% saying they were “very interested.”
However, blockchain-based international B2B transactions could more than $1.7 billion by 2025.
One of the first announced benefits of blockchain was the revolution it would bring to cross-border transactions. In the B2B domain alone, international blockchain transactions could have an impact $1.24 billion in 2024.
Sources: Triple A, Statista, Measurement protocol, Coin Map, Game Developers Conference, Juniper Research
Cryptocurrency ATMs
More and more businesses are starting to use cryptocurrency as a means of payment, and cryptocurrency ATMs are popping up all over major cities.
In July 2024, there is about 38,500 cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide.
And owners can now exchange cryptocurrencies for cash 70 different countries.
There are currently about 450 Cryptocurrency ATM operators down nearly 500 in early 2024.
At the time of writing, the top 10 ATM operators by number of ATMs operated 27,818 Machines (72.3%).
The rest 437 Operators are responsible for 10,682 ATMs (27.7%).
Topping the list, Bitcoin Depot has a 19.8% share of all cryptocurrency ATMs (7,615 Machines).
The top 10 cryptocurrency ATM operators are:
Rank |
ATM Operator |
Number of ATMs |
Share of cryptocurrency ATMs |
1 |
Bitcoin Deposit |
7,615 |
19.8% |
2 |
CoinFlip |
5 110 |
13.3% |
3 |
Athena |
3,319 |
8.6% |
4 |
RockItCoin |
2,493 |
6.5% |
5 |
CoinHub |
2,027 |
5.3% |
6 |
Bitstop |
2,025 |
5.3% |
7 |
Margo |
1,744 |
4.5% |
8 |
ByteFederal |
1,357 |
3.5% |
9 |
Local coin |
1,307 |
3.4% |
ten |
money2bitcoin |
821 |
2.1% |
In total, Los Angeles has more Bitcoin ATMs than any other U.S. city (1,657 Bitcoin ATMs and cash machines).
Other hot spots in the United States include:
- Houston (1,335)
- Chicago (1,115)
- Dallas (1,036)
- Atlanta (842)
Source: Coin vending machine radar
Cryptocurrency Mining Statistics
Cryptocurrency mining, the process of validating millions of cryptocurrency transactions, is what leads to the creation of new virtual coins.
More than 93.5% existing Bitcoins have been mined.
In July 2024, there is 21 million Existing Bitcoins and 19,719,968 in circulation.
Bitcoin mining is becoming increasingly difficult. The first 90% was mined in 12 years. Miners won’t release the final Bitcoin for about a year 2140.
In total, about 38% of all Bitcoin mining operations take place in the United States. about 30% This is happening in the state of Georgia.
Until July 2021, China was the country of origin for most of the world’s bitcoin mining. However, after China’s implicit ban on the use of cryptocurrencies, the United States took the top spot.
Here is a breakdown of the top 5 countries in terms of Bitcoin mining:
Rank | Country | Share of average monthly hash rate |
1 | WE | 37.84% |
2 | China | 21.11% |
3 | Kazakhstan | 13.22% |
4 | Canada | 6.48% |
5 | Russia | 4.66% |
If Bitcoin were a country, it would be ranked 24th overall in terms of energy consumption.
Bitcoin’s Carbon Footprint — 96 megatons of CO2 — is comparable to that of the Uzbek nation.
And a single Bitcoin transaction consumes the same amount of energy as 1,024,183 VISA operations.
Mining a single Bitcoin requires a huge amount of energy and computing power.
The true energy cost of a single Bitcoin transaction is 828.5 kWhTo put that in perspective, that’s equivalent to the average U.S. household spending over a 28.4-day period.
Source: CoinGecko, Cambridge, Digiconomist
Conclude
Cryptocurrencies are a complex ecosystem of miners, investors, and consumers of cryptocurrencies. And its growth has given rise to submarkets such as trading platforms, wallet apps, and cryptocurrency ATMs.
Cryptocurrencies can be a volatile investment. Prices can go up and down, but the overall trend points to incredible long-term growth. What will cryptocurrencies look like in 10 years?
For more crypto related content, take a look at our Top 7 Cryptocurrency Trends, How many people own Bitcoins?And 10 Important Blockchain Trends.