Global crypto adoption remains high, reaching 425 million in 2022 despite the industry crisis fueled by FTX collapse: Report
Daniel Levi
Posted On January 19, 2023
2022 was one of the worst years for the crypto industry. From the beginning of 2022, the crypto sector was faced with the onslaught of terrible news and a massive bloodbath of about $2 trillion in crypto assets wiped out from the crypto market. During the year, we also gruesome bankruptcies of FTX, Terra, Luna, Celsius, and alleged fraud charges against the once sector’s darling and crypto highest-profile entrepreneur, Sam Bankman-Fried.
However, despite the macro headwinds and trillions of dollars in losses, global crypto adoption remains high at the end of 2022 with more people owning crypto coins than at the beginning of the same year. A new research report by found that the total number of global crypto owners increased in 2022 by 39% up from 306 million in January to 425 million hodlers by December of the same year.
The report points to The Merge as the main reason for Ethereum’s accelerated growth rate.
According to research conducted by Crypto.com, one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world, crypto adoption in 2022 achieved new milestones, with the number of crypto owners reaching 425 million (December 2022) in spite of macro headwinds, namely high inflation, the conflict in Europe, supply chain disruptions, and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Takeaways
- Global crypto owners increased by 39% in 2022, rising from 306 million in January to 425 million in December.
- Bitcoin (BTC) owners grew by 20% from 183 million in January to 219 million in December, accounting for 52% of global owners;
- Ethereum (ETH) owners grew by 263% from 24 million in January to 87 million in December, accounting for 20% of global owners.
Other key takeaways included a 20% rise in BTC owners up to 219 million as well as a WHOPPING 263% increase in ETH owners up from 24 million to 87 million by year’s end.
- The main catalyst behind Ethereum’s high adoption growth rate was The Merge, which marked the completion of the network’s transition from a proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. Interest from institutional investors and the popularity of ETH liquid staking also contributed to Ethereum’s adoption.
Read the full report: Crypto Market Sizing Report 2022
