Global cryptocurrency owners increased by 4.5% in the first half of 2026, rising from 741 million in December 2025 to 774 million in June 2026, according to Crypto.com’s H1 2026 market sizing report. The latest cryptocurrency adoption statistics show that growth came in a hard year for prices. Crypto’s total market cap fell about 50% (a $2.1 trillion contraction), yet on-chain economic activity slipped just 1.6%, from $9.5 trillion to $9.4 trillion, per Chainalysis.
The data below covers on-chain owner estimates, the rebuilt Chainalysis country index and stablecoin flows. It adds surveys from the Federal Reserve, Pew Research Center, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and the European Central Bank. Each source measures adoption differently, and the gaps between them matter.
Key Takeaways
- Bitcoin owners grew by 2.5% to 373 million in June 2026, while Ether owners grew by 9.1% to 191 million.
- Brazil ranks 1st, ahead of the United States at 2nd and Nigeria at 3rd in the 2026 Chainalysis index.
- Value moving directly between personal wallets inside countries rose 302.9%, from $56.8 billion to $228.7 billion.
- In the US, 10% of adults used cryptocurrency in 2025, up 2 percentage points from the prior year, per the Federal Reserve.
- About one-in-five U.S. adults (19%) say they have invested in or used a cryptocurrency, according to Pew Research Center.
- The FCA’s latest consumer survey finds that 8% of people are cryptoasset users in the UK.
Editor’s Choice
- Global crypto owners: owners rose 12.4% from 659 million in 2024 to 741 million in 2025.
- Countries ranked: Chainalysis ranks the 117 countries for which it has sufficient data.
- Brazil’s crypto economy: $252.5 billion, the largest in Latin America.
- Cross-border stablecoins: up 77.5% over the period, from $124.2 billion to $220.3 billion.
- Active users vs owners: roughly 40-70 million active crypto users against an estimated 716 million owners.
- Euro area ownership: 9% in 2024, up from 4% in 2022.
How Many People Own Cryptocurrency Worldwide
- An estimated 300,000 to 1.3 million investors hold BTC and ETH via U.S. spot ETFs beyond these on-chain figures, according to Crypto.com.
- a16z crypto counts approximately 181 million monthly active addresses on-chain, down 18% from last year.
- The number of crypto mobile wallet users reached an all-time high, up 20% from last year, per a16z crypto. Wallet-level usage is broken out in our crypto wallet adoption statistics.
- In a16z crypto’s 2025 report, the estimated 716 million people who own crypto were up 16% from last year.
- Blockchains now process over 3,400 transactions per second, according to a16z crypto.
About This Data
Figures come from 22 cited findings: 15 Tier 1 (the Federal Reserve, FCA, ECB, SEC and Chainalysis) and 7 Tier 2 (Crypto.com, Pew Research Center and a16z crypto research). Sources span the ECB’s 2024 survey to September 2026 releases. Only primary or first-party data qualified. Figures are reviewed on a rolling basis and updated when sources publish new editions.
| Metric | Figure | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global crypto owners | 774 million | June 2026 | Crypto.com |
| On-chain economic activity | $9.4 trillion | 2026 period | Chainalysis |
| Countries ranked for adoption | 117 | 2026 period | Chainalysis |
| US adults who used crypto | 10% | 2025 | Federal Reserve |
| UK cryptoasset users | 8% | 2025 | FCA |
| Euro area crypto-asset owners | 9% | 2024 | ECB |
Source: Crypto.com 2026, Chainalysis 2026, Federal Reserve 2026, FCA 2025, ECB 2024
Global Crypto Ownership Growth, 2024 to 2026
- April and June saw relatively strong monthly growth of 1.1% and 1.8%, respectively, according to Crypto.com.
- Total BTC held by DAT companies exceeded 1.2 million by June 2026, accounting for over 6% of total BTC supply.
- ETH adoption was mainly driven by the expansion of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and stablecoins, according to Crypto.com.
- The 2025 increase of 12.4% compares with a first-half 2026 increase of 4.5% in Crypto.com’s data.
Recent Developments
- September 24, 2026: The Federal Reserve Board requested public comment on two proposals related to establishing a regulatory framework for Board-supervised payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act, per the Federal Reserve Board press release. The proposals build on the GENIUS Act stablecoin approval framework.
- September 2026: Chainalysis released the seventh edition of its report, ranking Brazil as the world’s top country for grassroots crypto adoption.
- August 18, 2026: The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, including a one-time exemption for offerings of up to $5 million during a four-year period and a second exemption of up to $75 million during each 12-month period.
- August 2026: Crypto.com’s H1 2026 report put global cryptocurrency owners at 774 million in June 2026.
- June 2026: Pew Research Center reported that Republicans’ crypto use has ticked up to 22%, and they are now more likely than Democrats to say they’ve used it.
Bitcoin Adoption Rate vs Ethereum in 2026
- Bitcoin (BTC) owners grew by 2.5%, from 364 million in December 2025, accounting for 48.3% of global owners.
- Ether (ETH) owners grew by 9.1%, from 175 million, accounting for 24.7% of global owners.
- Ethereum’s adoption rate increased from 22.7% in July 2025 to 24.7% in June 2026, while BTC’s adoption rate decreased from 50.0% to 48.3%.
- ETH owners surged 4.5% in June alone, the highest monthly growth rate since October 2025.
- ETH led adoption growth in every month of H1 2026, per Crypto.com.
Which crypto is being adopted the most?
Bitcoin counts 373 million owners in June 2026, accounting for 48.3% of global owners, against 191 million for Ether. Ether owners grew by 9.1%, compared with 2.5% for Bitcoin owners. Bitcoin leads on reach, and Ether leads on growth.
Which Countries Lead Crypto Adoption in 2026
- Brazil placed in the top four worldwide across every factor: second in cross-border flows, third in total service flows, third in its domestic peer-to-peer economy, and fourth in on-chain balances.
- The United States ranks 1st for total flows and 1st for balances, but 20th for its P2P economy.
- Nigeria ranks 1st for both P2P economy and cross-border flows.
- China ranks 12th overall but 2nd for its P2P economy.
- A country’s overall index score is the geometric mean of its four normalized scores, which rewards consistency across all measures.
- Country-by-country ownership rates and regional breakdowns sit in our crypto adoption rankings by country.
| Country | Overall rank | Total flows rank | Balances rank | P2P economy rank | Cross-border rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| United States | 2 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 11 |
| Nigeria | 3 | 18 | 18 | 1 | 1 |
| Japan | 4 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 4 |
| Republic of Korea | 5 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 12 |
| India | 6 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 16 |
| Ukraine | 7 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| Thailand | 8 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 8 |
| South Africa | 9 | 33 | 16 | 4 | 3 |
| Canada | 10 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
Source: Chainalysis 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index
Which country has the highest rate of crypto adoption?
In the 2026 Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, Brazil ranks first, followed by the United States, Nigeria, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. The index ranks 117 countries after weighting raw values by each country’s purchasing power parity. The answer depends on the metric, since Brazil tops no single sub-index on its own.
How the 2026 Methodology Reshuffled the Rankings
- For the 2025 edition, the index ranked all 151 countries for which it had sufficient data on each of four sub-indices.
- The 2026 index combines four sub-indices: service inflows, domestic peer-to-peer transfers, cross-border transfers and balances.
- India ranked 1st in 2025, and Pakistan ranked 3rd.
- In 2026, India ranks 6th, while Viet Nam ranks 18th.
- Japan ranked 19th in 2025; in 2026, it ranks 4th.
| Country | 2025 rank | 2026 rank |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 5 | 1 |
| United States | 2 | 2 |
| Nigeria | 6 | 3 |
| Japan | 19 | 4 |
| Republic of Korea | 15 | 5 |
| India | 1 | 6 |
| Ukraine | 8 | 7 |
| Thailand | 17 | 8 |
| Indonesia | 7 | 14 |
| Russian Federation | 10 | 16 |
| United Kingdom | 11 | 17 |
| Viet Nam | 4 | 18 |
| Pakistan | 3 | Outside top 20 |
Source: Chainalysis 2025 and 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Indexes
Worth noting: The 2026 index weights service inflows by a country’s GDP per capita and also measures domestic peer-to-peer transfers, cross-border transfers and balances. Because the four factors changed, a country’s move between the 2025 and 2026 tables reflects the new method as much as any change in local activity, so year-over-year rank changes are not like-for-like.
Crypto Adoption Growth by Region
- Latin America grew its crypto economy 9.8% period-over-period, driven by a collective pivot to stablecoins.
- Sub-Saharan Africa led the world in growth on the back of exceptionally strong peer-to-peer activity in the 2026 period.
- Total crypto transaction volume in APAC grew from $1.4 trillion to $2.36 trillion in the 12 months ending June 2025.
- Peer-to-peer’s share of combined activity rose in all eight regions, per Chainalysis.
Retail vs Institutional Crypto Transfer Growth
- Retail-level participation amounted to just $273 billion of nearly $10 trillion in activity in the 2026 period.
- Chainalysis says retail-level users persisted through the bear market, based on small-dollar inflows into services.
- Transfers of $1 million or more dropped just 7.2% period over period, a small drawdown given the price decline.
- Cross-border stablecoin payments average about $3,000, a transaction size Chainalysis calls far too small to be institutional.
| Transfer size | Change in value, 2026 period (%) |
|---|---|
| Under $100 | 78.4 |
| $100 to $1,000 | 58.6 |
| $1 million or more | -7.2 |
Source: Chainalysis 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index
Peer-to-Peer and On-Chain Crypto Activity
- Value flowing into exchanges, DeFi protocols, and other businesses fell 4.3% in the 2026 period.
- Peer-to-peer went from 0.6% of the two combined to 2.5%.
- Global measured balances fell from a September 2025 peak of $0.86 trillion to $0.44 trillion in June 2026.
- The 2026 period covers July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, per the Chainalysis methodology.
| Activity measure | Previous period | 2026 period | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-chain economic activity | $9.5 trillion | $9.4 trillion | -1.6% |
| Service inflows | $9.30 trillion | $8.90 trillion | -4.3% |
| Domestic peer-to-peer transfers | $56.8 billion | $228.7 billion | +302.9% |
Source: Chainalysis 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index
By the numbers: Value moving directly between personal wallets inside countries rose 302.9%, from $56.8 billion to $228.7 billion, per Chainalysis. Over the same stretch, value flowing into exchanges, DeFi protocols, and other businesses fell 4.3%, from $9.30 trillion to $8.90 trillion.
Stablecoin Adoption Statistics
- Monthly cross-border stablecoin value more than doubled from $11 billion in January 2025 to $24 billion in June 2026, by Chainalysis’s conservative estimate.
- Stablecoin balances held between $98 billion and $109 billion across the nine-month drawdown.
- Stablecoin balances grew 72.5% between December 2022 and September 2025.
- The total stablecoin supply is at record highs, now over $300 billion, and Tether and USDC account for 87% of the total supply, per a16z crypto’s 2025 report.
- Supply, issuer, and reserve data are tracked in our stablecoin market statistics, and cross-border use overlaps with remittance flows by country.
| Stablecoin measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-border stablecoin transfers | $220.3 billion | 2026 period |
| Monthly cross-border stablecoin value | $24 billion | June 2026 |
| Stablecoin share of global on-chain balances | 22.5% | June 2026 |
| Annual stablecoin transactions, adjusted | $9 trillion | 2025 |
| Tether and USDC share of stablecoin supply | 87% | 2025 |
Source: Chainalysis 2026, a16z crypto State of Crypto 2025
Why it matters: Stablecoins’ share of global balances reached 22.5% by June 2026, not because holders bought more but because the assets around them lost value. The cross-border growth aligns with everyday use cases: a person paying a supplier, sending money home, or moving savings out of a currency they no longer trust, according to Chainalysis.
Crypto Owners vs Active Users
- a16z crypto estimates roughly 40-70 million active crypto users, a fraction of total owners.
- a16z crypto calls the gap between passive crypto holders and active users an opportunity for crypto builders to reach more potential users who already own crypto.
- Stablecoins power $46 trillion ($9 trillion adjusted) in annual transactions, per a16z crypto.
- The total crypto market cap crossed the $4 trillion threshold for the first time in 2025.
| Adoption measure | Estimate | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crypto owners, on-chain estimate | 774 million | June 2026 | Crypto.com |
| Crypto owners, a16z estimate | 716 million | 2025 | a16z crypto |
| Monthly active onchain addresses | 181 million | 2025 | a16z crypto |
| Active crypto users | 40-70 million | 2025 | a16z crypto |
Source: Crypto.com H1 2026, a16z crypto State of Crypto 2025
US Crypto Adoption Rate, 2021 to 2025
- The 10% of adults who used cryptocurrency for either purpose in 2025 was up 2 percentage points from the prior year.
- This share remained down from 12% in 2021, the first time the survey asked about cryptocurrency.
- Nearly 1 in 10 adults bought or held cryptocurrency as an investment in the prior year, per the Federal Reserve.
- Buying or holding cryptocurrency as an investment remained more common than using it for financial transactions.
Key finding: The Federal Reserve’s survey shows 2% of adults used cryptocurrency to buy something or make a payment in 2025, the same share as in 2021, 2022 and 2024. Five years of data show US crypto adoption rising and falling with investment demand, while everyday spending with crypto has barely moved.
Why Americans Use Crypto for Payments
- Six percent of unbanked adults used cryptocurrency for financial transactions, compared with 2% among banked adults.
- Relatively few transactional cryptocurrency users indicated that either safety or a lack of trust in banks contributed to this choice. Merchant-side acceptance is tracked separately in our crypto payment adoption by merchants data.
Crypto Adoption by Gender, Age and Income
- 38% of men ages 18 to 29 say they have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency, compared with 15% of women in the same age range.
- 40% of men aged 30 to 49 have done this, compared with 17% of women in this age group.
- Upper-income use rose to 27%, up from 23% in 2024 and 17% in 2021.
- Pew surveyed 8,512 U.S. adults from Jan. 20 to 26, 2026, all members of its American Trends Panel.
- Age, income, and gender splits across other surveys are collected in our crypto user demographics data.
Cryptocurrency Adoption Statistics for the UK and Euro Area
- In the UK, overall awareness of cryptoassets among the general public remains very high at 91%, according to the FCA.
- Awareness of stablecoins among cryptoasset users rose to 58% in 2025 from 53% in 2024.
- Use of a centralised exchange increased compared to 2024 (+4% to 73%) among UK cryptoasset users.
- In the euro area, Slovenia (15%) and Greece (14%) registered the most significant crypto-asset ownership percentages, per the ECB.
- Individuals aged 25-39 were most likely to own crypto-assets, followed by those aged 18-24.
| Market | Survey | Measure | Share | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Federal Reserve SHED | Used crypto in the prior year | 10% | 2025 |
| United States | Pew Research Center | Ever invested in or used crypto | 19% | 2026 |
| United Kingdom | FCA consumer research | Cryptoasset users | 8% | 2025 |
| Euro area | ECB SPACE | Own crypto-assets | 9% | 2024 |
Source: Federal Reserve 2026, Pew Research Center 2026, FCA 2025, ECB 2024
The takeaway: The FCA cautions that the survey was only conducted online, so the survey data could overestimate the number of cryptoasset users in the UK, while this year’s survey reports that 8% of people are cryptoasset users. Survey shares depend on question wording and panel design, which is why US estimates range from 10% in the Federal Reserve’s 2025 SHED to 19% in Pew Research Center’s January 2026 survey.
Institutional and ETF Crypto Adoption
- BTC adoption could be primarily driven by institutional adoption through digital asset treasury (DAT) companies and macro hedging, according to Crypto.com.
- Over $175 billion sits in Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products, per a16z crypto’s 2025 report.
- Chainalysis says emerging regulatory frameworks, including the GENIUS Act in the U.S., MiCA in the EU, and action in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the U.K., are driving stablecoin adoption.
- Fund and allocator data sit in our institutional crypto adoption statistics.
| Institutional measure | Figure | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| BTC held by DAT companies | Over 1.2 million BTC | June 2026 | Crypto.com |
| Share of total BTC supply held by DAT companies | Over 6% | June 2026 | Crypto.com |
| Investors holding BTC and ETH via US spot ETFs | 300,000 to 1.3 million | H1 2026 | Crypto.com |
| Bitcoin and Ethereum ETP assets | Over $175 billion | 2025 | a16z crypto |
Source: Crypto.com H1 2026, a16z crypto State of Crypto 2025
Conclusion
Global crypto owners reached 774 million in June 2026, and domestic peer-to-peer value rose 302.9% to $228.7 billion in a year when prices fell sharply. Owner counts keep climbing, yet active on-chain use and everyday payments remain a small slice of that base, and the US survey data make the same point: people mostly hold crypto as an investment.
The next markers are the comment periods on the US stablecoin and securities proposals. Our 80+ statistics pages tell a story price charts miss: adoption metrics tend to keep growing through bear markets.
