Key Cryptocurrency Statistics & Facts for 2024 and Beyond

Bitcoin is still the most used cryptocurrency and it accounts for one half of the market at the time of writing. Broken into percentages, Bitcoin has a dominance of 50.2% of the total crypto market cap, followed by Ethereum with 17.7%, and TetherUSD with 7.6%, and BNB at 3%. Cryptocurrencies that are not in the top ten make up for only 13.6% of the total market capitalization.

Have you ever wondered about the number of people who use cryptocurrency in the US? 17% of people in the US using cryptocurrencies highlights a growing trend. The number represents around 53 million people, which is not neglectable by any means.

(Pew Research Center)

Despite its transaction volume and adoption decreasing, North America is still the largest crypto market in the world. According to analysis between July 2022 and June 2022, its on-chain transaction activity represented around 24.4% of the world’s total on-chain activity.

The main events that affected crypto activity in the world’s biggest market include the notorious fall of the FTX exchange in November 2022 and crises hitting crypto’s key banks, Signature, Silvergate, and Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023.

Stablecoins, or crypto coins whose value tracks the value of a fiat currency, play a vital role in fast, low-cost payments across the world. However, given that most of them are pegged to the US dollar, and that most transactions happen with these coins, the convenience has not been overlooked by criminals. This makes the regulation of stablecoins a primary goal for US lawmakers

The massive size of the cryptocurrency market shows that it is here to stay for the long term, despite the market’s recent crashes. The large capital gains from these huge wealth increases mean the tax bills are massive. Recently governments like the US classed crypto as an asset, which incurs taxes, and the gains must be shared with the IRS.

Many developers have created their cryptocurrencies, hoping that it will be the next Bitcoin, or making them just for fun. Still, most of these are inactive, especially after the crypto winter changed the market and reduced the hype in 2022. The number of active tokens is estimated at 9,000.

The impressive growth of Bitcoin has literally turned regular folk into millionaires and/or billionaires. Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency and an example of rapid wealth creation if you get in at the right time.

Between February 2021 and November 2022, the number of crypto ATMs more than doubled, only to drop again in 2023. More precisely, between August 2022 and October 2023, it dropped by 16.9%. Bitcoin ATMs allow you to withdraw cash when depositing the most common type of cryptocurrency, or you can deposit cash and receive Bitcoin to a wallet of your choosing. Around 83% of these ATMs are located in the US.

Countries like India, Vietnam, Turkey, and Ukraine are at the top of the Chainalysis list when it comes to grassroots adoption. In these countries, crypto plays an important role, especially when it comes to battling inflation and receiving remittances.

Nigeria, Vietnam, the US, and Ukraine are next on the list. In fact, the US is the only highly developed market in the top ten, even though it has seen a drop in crypto adoption between June 2022 and June 2023.

Compared to the same period 2022, the global trade volume dropped by half in 2023. According to CoinMarketCap, the amount of crypto traded in October 2022 was around $50 billion.

Cryptocurrency revenue growth is expected to continue in the next four years, with the forecasted total amount of $64.9 billion in 2027. For comparison, in 2023, crypto market revenue is estimated at $37.9 billion in 2023.

Cryptocurrency statistics show that the peak of the Bitcoin market was $1.27 trillion in November 2021, but since then, it has decreased. Currently, the market cap is $535.2 billion, which means that if you wanted to buy every single Bitcoin in existence, you would need to spend $535.2 billion.

The number of yearly Bitcoin transactions was 120 million in 2020, compared to an estimated 900 million in 2023. Expect the growth rate to continue as the cryptocurrencymarket develops and continues to be accepted by businesses worldwide, increasing the Bitcoin adoption rate. For instance, many online casinos are allowing Bitcoin as a form of payment.

How many people use cryptocurrency? According to TripleA, 420 million people in the world are crypto users, or 8.77% of the population. This number is expected to reach 994.3 million users or 12.51% of the population in 2027.

In the US, crypto users also skew younger. Around 82% of crypto users are between 18 and 44. People aged between 45 and 54 make around 11%, while those above 55 account for around 7% of cryptocurrency users, according to statistics.

An interesting fact is that users in the US have the highest crypto ownership gender gap (out of 26 surveyed countries according to Statista’s numbers). And in the US, men are two-and-a-half times more likely to own crypto than women. By contrast, countries like Vietnam are much closer to parity, with 56% of men and 44% of women among crypto owners.

Blockchain wallets are protected by encryption keys that allow the user to gain entry to the currency. Wallets can be in physical form, as well, if they are sorted on an external hard drive.On blockchain.com, there are currently over 37 million users.

Looking at crypto owners by education, it is safe to conclude those with a higher education are more likely to own crypto. The situation is the same in the US, with 26.5% of crypto owners having a postgraduate degree, 39.3% a uni degree, 9.9% having a vocational or technical college degree, 21.9% high school, and 2.52% a middle school degree.

Cryptocurrency statistics by race show 24% of Asian adults have used crypto, as have 21% of Black or Hispanic adults. By comparison, only 14% of White adults say the same.

Cryptocurrency users by country data shows that around 32% of Nigerians have owned crypto in their life, which is a reasonably high figure. This might be because the financial services in Nigeria are not that developed due to regulations. Therefore, cryptocurrencies are a good alternative to doing business.

Bitcoin is one of the most common cryptocurrencies and the increased trust in Bitcoin compared to traditional assets like gold is surprising. That is because gold is a physical asset that is finite. Bitcoin, in practice, is also finite, but it has a much shorter track history. Perhaps millennials are more eager to trust a distributed system compared to centralised assets that the government can control.

One of the disadvantages of cryptocurrency adoption is that it’s possible to steal large amounts of cryptocurrency. In 2022, over $3 billion was stolen from several networks, with over $625 million stolen just from the Ronin Network. Once the funds are stolen, it is very hard to follow the trail of where the funds were sent. Contrary to popular belief, it is not impossible.

Scams showed the highest level of decrease in the first half of the year, as did inflows to entities such as high-risk exchanges and mixers. However, given that crime was record in 2022, the drop is not so shocking.

If only 2 hacking groups were eliminated, then up to 60% of all crimes would go away in the digital currency world. It’s likely that there aren’t that many criminal groups since it is very difficult to breach networks that hold and process transactions.

Cryptocurrency facts suggest that Bitcoin is one of the main cryptocurrencies used in criminal activity. It is unsurprising because it is the most popular virtual currency and has the most value. As other cryptocurrencies gain popularity, they will be used by criminals as a means of transferring money as well.

Cryptocurrencies have gotten a bad name because they are viewed as a safe haven for money laundering and other illegal activity. However, crypto stats suggest that only a small fraction of total transactions are illegal. Criminals use all currencies, so illegal activities are a part of the entire financial industry, not just crypto.

It is no secret that Bitcoin mining is energy-intensive, and this is one of the well-known Bitcoin facts. Stats suggest that the energy spent by Bitcoin miners could power all the tumble dryers in OECD countries, China, and India combined.

Obviously, a large portion of the cost of mining Bitcoin is in electricity costs. Therefore, Bitcoin mining operations seek locations with cheap energy prices. Cooling the GPUs required to mine Bitcoin is a big part of the energy requirements. When looking at the use of cryptocurrency by country, we can see that countries like Iceland, which are naturally cold, have a bigger potential to host Bitcoin miners than others.

The state of Kentucky is promoting Bitcoin mining operations by giving them breaks on energy taxes. This improves the profitability and viability of Bitcoin mining. In contrast, other countries like China have outlawed Bitcoin mining by completely banning all Bitcoin-related activities.

This is one of the cryptocurrency statistics that indicates that most of the energy used for Bitcoin mining operations doesn’t come from renewable sources. Since this is one of the biggest arguments against crypto, further adoption of cryptocurrencies will largely depend on the miners’ ability to find and utilise renewable energy sources.

While many countries are dealing with the changes that digital currencies are causing to the financial system, others are outright banning them. Countries with absolute bans include Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, Egypt, Iraq, Nepal, Morocco, and Qatar. Many other countries have implicit bans or laws that restrict the use of crypto.

This statistic indicates that cryptocurrencies are gaining serious popularity since many people mention them in their social media posts. Also, it is estimated that around 14,000 to 32,000 crypto-related tweets are shared daily.

Software engineers can use their skills to develop algorithms that are able to trade on cryptocurrency prices profitably. Kind of like playing the stock market to make a profit. However, the reliability and profitability of these algorithms vary.