From 432M in 2022 to 580M in 2023, the number of crypto users worldwide jumped 34%.
The research shows that 42% of cryptocurrency users do not own any Bitcoin or Ethereum.
A market sizing analysis from crypto exchange Crypto.com states that by the end of 2023, more than half a billion individuals have become users or owners of cryptocurrencies. From 432 million in 2022 to 580 million in 2023, the number of crypto users worldwide jumped 34%, according to the company’s estimations.
A closer look at the numbers shows that at the end of the year, 296 million individuals owned Bitcoin, and 89 million users owned Ether, according to Crypto.com.
Significant Growth
The unique approach used by Crypto.com in its on-chain market size estimations combines on-chain data with a mix of characteristics to determine the total number of cryptocurrency owners worldwide. The research points out that the worldwide crypto user base grew by 34% during a period of persistently negative market circumstances.
The report goes on to say that the Shanghai upgrade to Ethereum contributed to the rise in network activity and the price of ETH that followed. The introduction of BRC-20 tokens and Bitcoin Ordinals, which introduced NFT functionality to the Bitcoin network in 2023, also contributed to the high demand for Bitcoin block space.
In 2023, there was a surge in Bitcoin purchases and wallets due to the increasing speculation about the potential acceptance of several Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications in the US. Q4 2023 saw a meteoric rise in Bitcoin acceptance due to this, according to the report.
In its on-chain data extraction, Crypto.com incorporates information from 23 different cryptocurrency exchanges. In addition, the research shows that 42% of cryptocurrency users do not own any Bitcoin or Ethereum, and that 40% of Bitcoin owners also possess ETH.