Prices Bounce Back and Crypto Population Hits 221 Million
On Friday, bitcoin’s price rose to $42,351.93. The cryptocurrency hit its highest price since May 20 and in the past seven days, the price of bitcoin increased by 23.2%. In the last week the price of bitcoin has broken the $40,000 mark on several occasions. The price swing is the reversal of the negative trend that bitcoin investors have seen since it reached a high of over $60,000 in April. The total market value of cryptocurrencies has increased to $1.58 trillion, representing a 2.34% increase in the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency market, which had been turbulent over the past couple of months, has shown signs of stability in the past 24 hours. But more importantly, the number of cryptocurrency users worldwide increased by more than 100% in the first six months of 2021, as a result of a surge of cryptocurrencies. According to Crypto.com, as of June 2021, the total number of cryptocurrency users across the globe reached 221 million people, while In January 2021 there were 106 million crypto users. The market is growing really fast, doubling in only 6 months.
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In only four months, the number of cryptocurrency users has more than doubled, reaching about 221 million in June.
User Growth
According to a recent study by Crypto.com, cryptocurrency adoption achieved remarkable traction during the first half of 2021, with crypto markets adding more than 100 million users between February and May. The report titled “Measuring Global Crypto Users” was originally published in May 2020, and at the time the global cryptocurrency user population was estimated to be around 66 million people.
“It only took four months to double the global cryptocurrency user base from 100 million to over 200 million. In comparison, it took nine months for the global crypto user base to reach 100 million from 65 million since Crypto.com began using this new research methodology in May 2020,” the research report states.
Altcoins are a significant component of this trend. The study also showed that the inflow of new users was interested in tokens such as Shiba Inu (SHIB) and dogecoin (DOGE). Alcoins have been cutting into the market share of big established cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum, most likely due to the entrance of new users into the market. At the beginning of the year, holders of altcoins accounted for just 20% of all cryptocurrency users worldwide. However, now this figure had risen to 38% of the total.
Growth Projections
The current crypto adoption rate has been outpacing the internet’s user growth. User growth and investor interest in crypto indicate that bitcoin will gain traction at a faster pace than the Internet. Bitcoin is now at a similar inflection point where the internet was in 1997. It’s possible that Bitcoin may reach the 1 billion user milestone within the next four years.
VC Investments
According to Crunchbase data, the crypto and blockchain markets have drawn approximately $12.4 billion in venture capital investment into U.S.-based businesses since 2017, and $19.4 billion worldwide since 2017. In fact, data collected so far for 2021 indicates that worldwide and U.S. investments totaled almost three times as much as they did in 2020. However, the industry will continue to confront both possibilities and difficulties in the future, including increased adoption and new regulatory demands from governments all over the globe, among other things.
Regulation
It also seems like Congress is moving closer to regulating crypto. A bill introduced in the House establishes new statutory definitions of digital assets, creates new reporting requirements, authorizes regulators to monitor the market, and clarifies that cryptocurrencies and stablecoins are not a “legal tender.” The bill would also give the Federal Reserve the authority to create a digital version of the dollar, to compete with China which released a digital version of its currency last year.
In Europe, it looks like Germany will allow institutional funds to own up to 20% of their assets in bitcoin and other crypto products. The change came as authorities in Germany launched a range of digitally-focused initiatives for the financial sector. Last month, regulators granted permission for companies to issue debt securities using blockchain and introduced a new legal framework that removes Germany’s asset managers from the same regulations as banks.
The COVID-19 epidemic has hastened the adoption of digital currencies such as bitcoin, as well as the underlying blockchain technologies that underpin them and enable them to function.
A recent study by London, UK-based business information website Small Business Prices looked at the top 25 countries that are most prepared for digital currency adoption. The study showed that the US is the most prepared country for integrating cryptocurrency across the country.
Crypto’s adoption rate is increasing as a result of a number of factors like the threat of increasing inflation, the depreciation of the United States dollar, and the phenomenal increase in Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Events such as Tesla’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Bitcoin in February, PayPal’s cryptocurrency integration in March played a key role, as well as the inclusion of Bitcoin (BTC) on corporate balance sheets. Let’s not forget that in June, El Salvador became the world’s first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.
Although crypto is still volatile, I am confident that momentum will continue as we return to normality and as these digital currencies trickle into our everyday consciousness.
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