How many people used crypto in 2024?
The most widely quoted estimate comes from Crypto.com’s annual Crypto Market Sizing Report, which found that global cryptocurrency owners grew by 13% in 2024, from 583 million in January to 659 million in December [3]. The payments firm Triple-A puts the figure lower, at over 560 million people, or about 6.8% of the world’s population [5]. Estimates differ because nobody can count crypto owners directly: each firm models them from blockchain data, exchange figures and surveys.
The graphic above, by CoinPedia Fintech Markets, was published at the start of 2024 and looks back at 2023 [1]. It predicted that crypto users could reach nearly 950 million in 2024. That did not happen: on Crypto.com’s count the total grew by 76 million in 2024, ending the year well under 700 million [3].
Global crypto ownership in 2023
2023 was a year of fast growth. Crypto.com found that global owners rose by 34%, from 432 million in January to 580 million in December [2]. It linked growth in the first half of the year to Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade and growth in the second half to Bitcoin ETF filings in the United States [2].
The CoinPedia graphic also says that April and May 2023 had monthly growth rates of 5.1% and 6.7%. Those figures are not in Crypto.com’s public announcement, so we have not been able to verify them [2].
How many people own Bitcoin and Ethereum?
Bitcoin is held by about half of all crypto owners. According to Crypto.com:
- Bitcoin owners grew by 33% in 2023, from 222 million to 296 million, then by 13.1% in 2024, from 298 million to 337 million, about 51% of all owners [2][3].
- Ethereum owners grew by 39% in 2023, from 89 million to 124 million, then by 13.6% in 2024, from 125 million to 142 million, about 22% of all owners [2][3].
The CoinPedia graphic credits Bitcoin’s 2023 growth to the Ordinals protocol, Bitcoin ETFs and interest from firms such as BlackRock and Fidelity, and Ethereum’s growth to the Shanghai upgrade of 12 April 2023 [1]. The upgrade was real and did happen on that date. It was named after a city that hosted Ethereum’s Devcon conference in 2016, and has no link to China, despite the map on the graphic [4].
What drove crypto adoption in 2024?
Crypto.com put the 2024 rise down to institutional adoption, especially the US Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which for the first time let ordinary investors get exposure to those coins through a regulated fund. It also pointed to pro-crypto policy momentum in the United States after Donald Trump’s election win in November 2024 [3].
The graphic’s 2024 predictions named Bitcoin spot ETF approval, growth in tokenisation (including Goldman Sachs’ GS DAP platform) and the meeting of AI and blockchain as the drivers of mass adoption [1]. The ETF part proved right; the scale of growth it forecast did not.
Crypto ownership in the United States
The US figures on the graphic come from Security.org’s 2024 cryptocurrency consumer report. It found that 40% of American adults owned crypto at the start of 2024, up from 30% a year earlier, which it estimated could be as many as 93 million people [6]. Women’s ownership rose fastest, from 18% to 29% [6].
The graphic phrases this as ownership having “soared 40%”. That misreads the report: the ownership rate reached 40%, an increase of 10 percentage points, rather than growing by 40% [6]. The graphic also gives men’s ownership rising from 43% to 48%, a figure we could not find in the Security.org report.
Among US owners in the same survey, 76% held Bitcoin, 54% Ethereum, 26% Dogecoin, and 12% each held Shiba Inu and Cardano [6]. The shares add up to more than 100% because many people own more than one coin.
Why crypto user estimates differ
Crypto ownership figures are estimates, not counts. Crypto.com bases its numbers on on-chain data combined with “blended parameters” [3], while Triple-A builds its total from country-by-country estimates [5], and Security.org’s US figures come from a survey of adults [6]. One person can hold several wallets on several exchanges, and many accounts sit unused, so every method has to make assumptions. That is why the 2024 estimates above range from about 560 million to 659 million, and why a forecast like the graphic’s 950 million should be treated with caution.
Questions about global crypto users
How many crypto users are there in 2024?
About 659 million by December 2024, according to Crypto.com [3], or over 560 million according to Triple-A [5].
What percentage of the world owns crypto?
Triple-A estimates about 6.8% of the world’s population owned crypto in 2024 [5].
How many people own Bitcoin?
Around 337 million at the end of 2024, roughly half of all crypto owners, on Crypto.com’s estimate [3].
What percentage of Americans own crypto?
Security.org’s 2024 survey found 40% of American adults owned crypto, up from 30% in 2023, or as many as 93 million people [6].
Did crypto users reach 950 million in 2024?
No. That was a forecast on the CoinPedia graphic. Crypto.com’s count for December 2024 was 659 million [1][3].
Sources
- CoinPedia Markets, Crypto ownership soars in 2023, mass adoption is coming in 2024, Medium, 5 February 2024. The creator’s post for this graphic.
- Crypto.com, Global Cryptocurrency Owners Grow to 580 Million Through 2023, 22 January 2024.
- Crypto.com, Global Cryptocurrency Owners Grow to 659 Million Through 2024, 20 February 2025.
- ethereum.org, History of Ethereum.
- Triple-A, Digital Currency Ownership Data.
- Security.org, 2024 Cryptocurrency Adoption and Consumer Sentiment Report (archived copy, March 2024).
Last reviewed 2 November 2026
