How Many People Use Cryptocurrency Worldwide 2026: Global User Count by Year and Region

Roughly 741 million people owned cryptocurrency worldwide at the end of 2025, according to Crypto.com’s Market Sizing Report, a 12.4% rise from 659 million a year earlier. In the United States, the Pew Research Center finds that about 1 in 5 American adults have used crypto, while the Federal Reserve’s household survey puts active use at just 8%.

That gap is the whole problem with counting crypto users: whether you count people who own coins, people who actively transact, or raw wallet addresses, the same world produces wildly different totals. The numbers below pin down which is which, by year, by region, and by survey.

Key Takeaways

• Global cryptocurrency owners increased by 12.4% in 2025, rising from 659 million in 2024 to 741 million, per Crypto.com’s Market Sizing Report.
• Triple-A estimated global ownership at an average of 6.8% in 2024, with over 560 million digital currency owners worldwide, a lower count drawn from a different method.
• About 1 in 5 Americans have used crypto, with men at 27% versus women at 11%, in a Pew Research Center survey of 8,512 US adults.
• US crypto use fell to 8% of adults in 2024, down from 12% in 2021, according to the Federal Reserve’s SHED survey.
• India ranked first in the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, ahead of the United States at second and Pakistan at third, across 151 countries.
• Approximately 30% of American adults, or 70.4 million people, own cryptocurrency in 2026, up from 27% in 2024 but below the 2022 peak of 33%, per Security.org.

Editor’s Choice

• 741 million people owned cryptocurrency globally at the end of 2025, by Crypto.com’s count.
• Bitcoin ownership grew to 365 million users, an 8.3% increase from 337 million, representing 49.3% of all global owners.
• The world average crypto ownership rate stood at 6.9% in 2024, per Triple-A.
• 70.4 million US adults own cryptocurrency in 2026, per Security.org’s annual consumer report.
• APAC crypto value received grew 69% year over year, from $1.4 trillion to $2.36 trillion, in the Chainalysis 2025 index.
• Hong Kong topped Triple-A’s 2024 country list with a 31.0% ownership rate, followed by the UAE at 24.4%.

How Many People Own Cryptocurrency Worldwide

• Crypto.com counted 741 million global cryptocurrency owners at the end of 2025, up from 659 million a year earlier.
• Owner growth reached 12.4% over the year, per Crypto.com’s Market Sizing Report.
• Bitcoin owners totaled 365 million, an 8.3% rise from 337 million in 2024.
• Ethereum saw stronger growth, with owners up 22.6% to 175 million, from 142 million in 2024.
• Bitcoin accounted for 49.3% of all global owners; Ethereum for 23.6%.
• Triple-A’s separate 2024 estimate put global ownership at over 560 million people, well below Crypto.com’s later on-chain count.
• Triple-A’s world average ownership rate was 6.9%, applied across its country-weighted model.
• Crypto ownership grew at a compound annual rate of 99% from 2018 to 2023, far above the 8% average for traditional payment methods, per Triple-A.

Source: Crypto.com Market Sizing Report 2025, Triple-A 2024

The single number most readers want is 741 million, but no two methods agree, so the right way to read these counts is to keep the method attached to the figure.

For deeper country-level ownership splits, the cryptocurrency adoption by country statistics page tracks the same national rates over a longer horizon.

Crypto Owners vs Users vs Wallets: Defining the Count

• Crypto.com’s 741 million figure counts owners, people who hold a balance, estimated from on-chain data with blended parameters.
• Pew’s “about 1 in 5” figure counts users, Americans who have invested in, traded, or used crypto, a behavior measure rather than a holdings snapshot.
• The Federal Reserve counts active use: only 8% of US adults used crypto for any purpose in 2024, and just 2% used it to buy something or make a payment.
• Holding method matters too: within the about 22%, Motley Fool counts as owners, 16% own crypto directly, and 6% hold it only through a crypto ETF.
• Transactional use splits further: 7% of US adults held crypto as an investment, 1% used it to send money to friends or family, per the Fed.
• Wallet addresses are the loosest count of all: one person can hold dozens of wallets, exchanges custody balances for millions of users under pooled addresses, and many addresses sit dormant for years, so address totals overstate the human count by an order of magnitude.

Source: Crypto.com 2025, Pew Research Center 2026, Federal Reserve SHED 2024, Motley Fool 2026

By the numbers: The Federal Reserve found just 2% of US adults used crypto to make a payment in 2024 and 1% to send money to family, even as 7% held it as an investment. Ownership and everyday use are not the same population, which is why a single “crypto user” number is misleading.

Readers tracking the wallet layer specifically can compare these owner counts against the crypto wallet ecosystem statistics, where address totals and active-wallet figures sit far above any people-based estimate.

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Global Crypto Ownership by Year

• Global owners rose from 659 million at the end of 2024 to 741 million at the end of 2025, per Crypto.com.
• Bitcoin owners climbed from 337 million to 365 million over the same year, an 8.3% gain.
• Ethereum owners rose from 142 million to 175 million, a 22.6% gain, outpacing Bitcoin’s growth rate.
• US active use moved the other way, falling from 12% of adults in 2021 to 8% in 2024, per the Federal Reserve.
• US ownership measured by Security.org climbed from 27% in 2024 to approximately 30% in 2026, though it has not retaken the 2022 peak of 33%.
• Over the longer 2018 to 2023 window, Triple-A clocked a 99% compound annual growth rate in global ownership.
• In de-identified Chase banking data, the share of individuals transferring into crypto accounts rose from 3% before 2020 to almost 15% by mid-2022.

Source: Crypto.com 2024-2025, Federal Reserve SHED, Security.org 2026

The two trend lines diverge on purpose. CoinLaw’s adoption coverage consistently shows the global owner count grinding upward through cycles, while a single national survey can dip, because survey-measured active use tracks price sentiment more closely than the cumulative holder base does.

Recent Developments

• In June 2026, Pew Research Center reported that about 1 in 5 US adults have used crypto, with Republicans now more likely than Democrats to have done so, at 22% versus 17%.
• Security.org’s 2026 consumer report put US ownership at approximately 30%, or 70.4 million adults, with Bitcoin held by 74% of owners.
• Motley Fool’s May 2026 survey of 2,000 adults found about 22% of Americans own or hold crypto, including 6% who hold it only through an ETF.
• Crypto.com’s late-2025 Market Sizing Report recorded 741 million global owners, up 12.4% from 659 million a year earlier.
• The Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, covering the 12 months ending June 2025, added an institutional component capturing transfers exceeding $1 million.

Crypto Adoption by Region

• APAC posted a 69% year-over-year increase in value received, as transaction volume grew from $1.4 trillion to $2.36 trillion, per Chainalysis.
• Latin America posted a 63% growth rate in the 2025 index.
• Sub-Saharan Africa expanded 52%, ahead of North America’s 49% gain.
• Europe gained 42% in value received over the same 12-month window.
• The Chainalysis index ranks 151 countries for which it has sufficient data, weighting rankings by population size and purchasing power.
• The 2025 methodology’s institutional cutoff of transfers above $1 million reflects growing participation by traditional financial institutions and professional investors.

Source: Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index

Why it matters: Chainalysis splits the world into two tracks: grassroots adoption concentrated in emerging markets like India and Pakistan, and institutional value, transfers above $1 million, concentrated in North America. The result is parallel crypto economies that a single global ownership number flattens into one figure.

Top Countries by Crypto Ownership Rate

• India ranked first in the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, followed by the United States, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Brazil.
• Nigeria, Indonesia, Ukraine, the Philippines, and the Russian Federation completed the top 10 grassroots adopters.
• By ownership rate, Hong Kong topped Triple-A’s 2024 country list at 31.0%.
• The UAE followed at 24.4%, with Singapore at 19.3% and Turkey at 18.9%.
• Argentina, Thailand, and Brazil each posted ownership rates around 17.5% to 17.6%.
• The two rankings measure different things: Chainalysis ranks usage intensity weighted by economic capacity, while Triple-A ranks the raw share of the population that owns, so Hong Kong tops the ownership table while India tops the activity index.

Source: Triple-A 2024, Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index

The unbanked population statistics help explain why several top adopters are emerging markets with large underbanked populations.

US Crypto Ownership Rate by Survey

• Pew Research Center found that about 1 in 5 US adults have used crypto, in a January 2026 survey of 8,512 adults.
• Security.org put US ownership at approximately 30%, or 70.4 million adults, in its 2026 report.
• Motley Fool counted about 22% of Americans as owning or holding crypto in May 2026.
• Gallup found 14% of US adults own bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, in a June 2025 survey of 2,017 adults.
• The Federal Reserve recorded 8% of adults using crypto for any purpose in 2024.
• De-identified Chase banking data showed that almost 15% of individuals had transferred into crypto accounts by mid-2022, drawn from nearly 5 million checking accounts.

Source: Security.org 2026, Motley Fool 2026, Pew Research Center 2026, JPMorgan Chase Institute, Gallup 2025, Federal Reserve SHED 2024

Worth noting: US estimates span from 8% (Federal Reserve, active use) to 30% (Security.org, ownership), nearly a fourfold range. The spread is not error; it reflects each survey measuring a different behavior across a different sample and period.

US Crypto Use by Demographic

• Pew found 27% of men have used crypto versus 11% of women, with adoption highest among adults aged 30 to 49 at 28%.
• Among older Americans aged 50 and up, only 10% have used crypto, per Pew.
• Asian adults led adoption at 25%, while White, Hispanic, and Black Americans clustered around 18% to 20%, per Pew.
• Gallup found that men aged 18 to 49 own crypto at 25%, the highest of any group, versus 8% for women aged 18 to 49.
• Motley Fool reported 34% of male respondents own crypto versus 11% of female respondents.
• Chase banking data showed 20% of millennials transferred into crypto, versus 11% of Generation X and 4% of baby boomers.

Source: Pew Research Center 2026, Gallup 2025, Motley Fool 2026, JPMorgan Chase Institute

For the full breakdown of who owns crypto by age, gender, income, and race, the crypto user demographics statistics page carries the detailed cuts that sit beyond this count-focused view.

Why the Estimates Disagree: Source and Method Comparison

• Crypto.com’s 741 million owner count uses on-chain data with blended parameters, not a survey.
• Triple-A estimated over 560 million owners worldwide at an average ownership rate of 6.8% in 2024.
• Chainalysis ranks 151 countries by grassroots activity using four weighted sub-indices, not an ownership headcount.
• Pew surveyed 8,512 US adults through its American Trends Panel to reach the “about 1 in 5” figure.
• The Federal Reserve’s 8% comes from its ongoing SHED household survey conducted in 2024.
• The almost 15% figure comes from observed transfers in nearly 5 million de-identified Chase checking accounts, an administrative-data approach.

Source: Crypto.com 2025, Triple-A 2024, Chainalysis 2025, Pew Research Center 2026, Gallup 2025, Federal Reserve SHED 2024, JPMorgan Chase Institute

This is where CoinLaw’s data-first approach earns its keep. Laying the methods side by side shows that on-chain modeling, surveys, and banking data measure genuinely different populations, so the honest answer is a range, not a point. Usage context for the on-chain side of the count sits in the decentralized finance market statistics, where protocol activity reflects the active rather than the dormant share of holders.

What Percentage of the World Owns Cryptocurrency?

Roughly 6.8% to 6.9% of the world owned cryptocurrency as of 2024, per Triple-A’s country-weighted estimate of over 560 million owners. Crypto.com’s later on-chain model implies a higher share, with 741 million owners at the end of 2025. The exact percentage depends on the method: survey-based estimates tend to sit lower than on-chain models, because surveys miss holders who do not self-report, and on-chain models can over-count addresses that map to the same person.

Which Country Uses Cryptocurrency the Most?

India ranked first in the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, which measures grassroots usage across 151 countries, followed by the United States and Pakistan. By a different yardstick, the share of the population that owns crypto, Hong Kong topped Triple-A’s 2024 country list at 31.0%, ahead of the UAE at 24.4%. The “most” depends on whether you rank by usage intensity, where large emerging markets dominate, or by ownership rate, where smaller high-income hubs top the list.

Is Crypto Adoption Growing or Declining?

Globally, adoption is growing: Crypto.com recorded a 12.4% rise in owners in 2025, reaching 741 million.

The US picture is mixed. The Federal Reserve found active use fell from 12% in 2021 to 8% in 2024. Security.org found ownership recovered from 27% in 2024 to approximately 30% in 2026, still short of the 33% peak in 2022. The global owner base keeps expanding even when a single national survey dips, because cumulative ownership is less price-sensitive than active use.

Conclusion

Roughly 741 million people owned cryptocurrency worldwide at the end of 2025, a 12.4% rise from the previous year, per Crypto.com. Triple-A’s estimate puts the figure lower, at over 560 million. In the United States, estimates range widely: the Federal Reserve’s 8% active-use floor rises to Security.org’s roughly 30% ownership ceiling, with Pew’s about 1 in 5 sitting in between. The spread is the finding, not a flaw: owners, users, and wallets are three different populations, and any honest global count carries its method with it.

For readers tracking the trajectory, the global owner base has grown through every recent cycle, even as US active use dipped. The Chainalysis 2025 index pairs emerging-market grassroots adoption with an institutional component capturing transfers above $1 million.