What percent of Americans own crypto?
Overall, 17% of U.S. adults say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency. This share is mostly unchanged from previous Center surveys conducted in 2021 and 2022.
Cryptocurrency awareness and ownership rates have increased to record levels: 40% of American adults now own crypto, up from 30% in 2023. This could be as many as 93 million people. Among current crypto owners, around 63% hope to obtain more cryptocurrency over the next year.
Top Blockchain Statistics - (Editor's Choice)
Research from July 2021 shows that 89% of American adults have heard of Bitcoin. An estimated 1 billion people around the world use cryptocurrencies. 29% of all millennial American parents own cryptocurrency.
Most financial experts recommend limiting crypto exposure to less than 5% of your total portfolio. Crypto is considered a high-risk asset class. Limiting allocation helps manage overall volatility and risk. Those new to crypto investing may start with 1% to 2% as an introduction.
20% of Americans–which would constitute over 50 million people–own crypto. Despite the tumultuous events of 2022, crypto ownership has remained largely unchanged since early 2022, which has been the historic high water mark for crypto ownership in America. Ownership is higher with people of color and younger Americans.
As such, Bitcoin's ownership structure reflects the decentralized, open-source nature of Bitcoin's technology. In reality, only 2.3% of all Bitcoin owners own 1 BTC or more (worth around $35K per Bitcoin as of November 6th, 2023).
A recent survey conducted by bitcoin financial services firm Unchained found that 86 million Americans — 26% of the U.S. population — owns bitcoin. But the reality is that, even if they have heard of "crypto," the average investor in the U.S. and beyond knows very little about this nascent asset class.
| Figure | Findings |
|---|---|
| Number of Global Crypto Owners | 420 million |
| Number of Global Bitcoin Owners | 219 million |
| Percentage of Global Bitcoin Owners | 2.74% |
| Number of US-Based Crypto Owners | 67 million |
As of March 2023, the top 1% of Bitcoin addresses hold over 90% of the total Bitcoin supply, according to Bitinfocharts.
According to a survey from lendingtree.com, conducted in November 2022, a higher percentage of 38% of cryptocurrency investors have reported to lost money rather than profited, 28% say they made a profit, and only 13% broke even.
How much crypto does the average person have?
Crypto holdings for most individuals are relatively small—as median flows equal less than one week's worth of take-home pay—but almost 15 percent of users have net transfers of over one month's worth of pay to crypto accounts.
The US is also home to some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Coinbase and Kraken, further cementing its position as the richest crypto country in the world.
Many 2021 surveys suggest at least 16% of Americans traded crypto. Plus, the U.S. was the only industrialized country in the top 10 of Chainalysis' 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index. However, when analyzing the most crypto users by country per capita, Thailand appears to have the highest number of crypto holders.
Roughly four-in-ten adults who have heard about cryptocurrency (39%) say they are not at all confident and an additional 36% are not very confident in the reliability and safety of cryptocurrencies. On the other end of the spectrum, few of these adults are extremely (2%) or very (4%) confident in cryptocurrencies.
Simple math shows that the average bitcoin holding per person is about 262,500 satoshis. At $69,000 per bitcoin, that works out to an investment of about $180 to reach the global average bitcoin allocation. So don't be discouraged by the price of a single bitcoin.
- Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, is more a legend than a person we can pinpoint. ...
- Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. ...
- Changpeng Zhao (CZ) ...
- Tim Draper. ...
- Michael J. Saylor. ...
- Others. ...
- MicroStrategy. ...
- Galaxy Digital Holdings.
Key Takeaways. There are 88,200 crypto millionaires worldwide. 40,500 of these millionaires have amassed their fortune in Bitcoin (BTC). The number of global crypto owners reached 580 million by the end of 2023, according to Crypto.com.
There are 88,200 crypto millionaires worldwide, with just under half (40,500) holding their fortunes in Bitcoin, according to the inaugural Crypto Wealth Report published by leading international wealth and investment migration specialists Henley & Partners.
Global cryptocurrency adoption
As of 2023, we estimated global cryptocurrency ownership rates at an average of 4.2%, with over 420 million cryptocurrencies users worldwide.
The U.S. government is one of the world's biggest holders of bitcoin, but unlike other crypto whales, it doesn't care if the digital currency goes up or down in value. That is because Uncle Sam's stash of some 200,000 bitcoin was seized from cybercriminals and darknet markets.
How much Bitcoin does China own?
Governments Holding the Most Bitcoin
Governments across the world own an estimated 565,749 BTC, representing 2.69% of the total supply. The Chinese government reportedly holds 194,000 BTC that was recovered from the Plustoken scam in 2019. Members of the Ukrainian government privately hold roughly 46,351 BTC.
Around one out of every four Millennials worldwide own cryptocurrency. This is according to the latest results from Statista Consumer Insights, which shows that some 17 percent of Gen Z consumers own Bitcoin or some other form of crypto in 2023.
The top reasons why crypto skeptics won't invest
The most-cited reasons why respondents who don't own cryptocurrency haven't invested are security concerns (36%), not knowing what to do with it (35%), and not understanding how to buy crypto (33%).
In 2020, the number of wallets – defined as a set of blockchain addresses controlled by a single entity – holding at least 1,000 bitcoins has increased by 302 (17%) and is now at a record high of 2,052, according to Philip Gradwell, economist at Chainalysis.
Many experts believe it's only a matter of time before bitcoin sets new all-time highs on its path to $100,000. The next potential catalyst for bitcoin's 2024 performance will be its halving event, expected in mid-April. Halving is intended to maintain the scarcity of bitcoin and support its price.
