Bitcoin, blockchain, and NFTs are all technical concepts tying into the world of cryptocurrency – and they’re likely more frequently discussed than understood.
But there’s a lot more to it than that. And despite many misconceptions, cryptocurrency is an important trend that’s poised to only become more important in the coming years.
With the release of new crypto coins, the rise of the Metaverse, and the growing role of NFTs, as well as many other technical and regulatory trends, it can be tricky to stay on top of it all.
We’ve put together an overview of today’s key cryptocurrency statistics and trends, including investor demographics, key influences, and risks, as well as some insights into crypto revenue. Let’s take a look.
Key Cryptocurrency Statistics for 2023
39% of American crypto investors are in the 25-34 age bracket, with women making up 43% of that group.
Asia is a leader in crypto adoption, with 260 million crypto owners, eight times more than Europe.
There are over 80,000 NFTs on Ethereum as of 2022, and 4.64% of its users hold an NFT asset.
As of May 1, 2023, the NFT trading volume was $150 million, with 930,000 NFTs sold.
In 2021, the FBI received over 4,325 complaints from cryptocurrency romance scam victims, who collectively lost $429 million.
In 2023, the amount of energy consumed by Bitcoin mining equaled 81.7% of the total energy consumption of The Netherlands and exceeded that of Czechia by 36%.
As of July 12th, 2023, the cryptocurrency market cap is $1.22 Trillion.
Cryptocurrency Investor Demographics Statistics
Source: Morning Consult
First of all, let’s take a look at who cryptocurrency investors are.
We reviewed cryptocurrency and financial market reports for the last couple of years to study crypto investor demographics and trends. Let’s dive into the details – and they may surprise you.
Crypto Investors by Demographic
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According to Pew Research and Gemini, men still make up the majority of crypto investors in the US. Gemini research tells us that as of 2021, this majority equaled 74%, with women making up 26% of crypto investors. Despite this, over 53% of those interested in investing in crypto in the future were female.
39% of crypto investors are in the 25-34 age bracket, with women making up 43% of them. 35-44-year-olds aren’t far behind, with 35% of the total and with men making up 38% of that age group. Gen Z makes up the smallest group of cryptocurrency investors – only 3% of investors are aged 18-24.
Meanwhile, 45% of female crypto owners are under 35, while only 4% are over 55. However, the latter group makes up as much as 25% of potential crypto-curious investors looking for new crypto to invest in, signifying a potential shift in the conventional “millennial man” crypto investor profile.
Crypto Investors by Region
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Triple-A estimates that as of 2023, around 4.2% of the world’s population were crypto investors/owners. That amounts to approximately 420 million people, or almost two times the population of Brazil.
Asia is a leader in crypto adoption, with 260 million crypto owners. That’s eight times more adopters than in Europe. Switzerland is the biggest European crypto adopter, with a 21% adoption rate. The USA’s rate is 16%.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of adults invested in cryptocurrency across APAC, Africa, and LATAM as of 2023:
Country
Percentage
Nigeria
47%
Turkiye
47%
UAE
31%
Indonesia
29%
Brazil
28%
India
27%
South Africa
22%
Australia
17%
Chile
15%
Cryptocurrency Trends & Projection Statistics
Source: Statista
The cryptocurrency ecosystem might be peer-to-peer based, but it’s nonetheless impacted by external events and trends. We’ve taken a look at the key cryptocurrency trends of the last few years, key influences on crypto, the best crypto to buy, and possible future trends. Let’s dive in.
Key Crypto Trends
De-Fi
Source: Statista
Decentralized finance (De-Fi) is one of the cornerstones of cryptocurrency, as decentralization of finance underpins the whole idea of crypto.
The fintech behind De-Fi is based on secure distributed ledgers (e.g., blockchain) and often involves peer-to-peer (P2P) money exchanges, as opposed to bank-to-peer, which is how centralized financial systems work. So, cryptocurrency is part of De-Fi.
In recent years, De-Fi’s has had its ups and downs. In November 2021, the De-Fi market was worth $248.84 billion, but it suffered significant dips in January, April, and May 2022, and it’s been worth less than $50 billion since April 2023.
Blockchain
Source: Statista
Blockchain technology often goes hand-in-hand with cryptocurrency trading, although many other blockchain use cases exist that are unrelated to crypto. This technology allows decentralization, however, and enables the global nature of cryptocurrency, making it the perfect partner.
Blockchain’s ability to facilitate fast and transparent transactions is an essential part of the adoption of crypto. The Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain has grown rapidly in recent years, increasing to 475.36 gigabytes in June 2023 from 440.76 gigabytes in January 2023.
NFTs
Source: Statista
The first non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were created in 2014, but it wasn’t until 2017 that they became known to the world and began to appear on the Ethereum cryptocurrency blockchain, which facilitates token development.
Ethereum provided a low-cost and simple framework for NFT projects’ creation and trading. There were over 80,000 NFTs on Ethereum as of 2022, and 4.64% of its users hold an NFT asset.
NFT gained momentum in 2021 when NFT artwork sales began to grow post-COVID-19. In March 2021, an NFT artwork was sold for $69 million by a major auction house.
And although the NFT market almost collapsed in 2022, there have been signs of recovery, and some experts predict that the NFT market will reach $231.98 billion by 2030.
As of May 8, 2023, NFT trading volume was $150 million, with 930,000 sold. That’s a decline compared to April 10, 2023, when over 1.07 million NFT units were sold, with a trading volume of $350 million.
Future Crypto Trends
The increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies across established and emerging markets means they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
Here are some of the key crypto trends we expect to see in the future:
Web 3.0 in the mainstream
Metaverse, crypto, and NFT marriage
Regulation – which we’ll look into more closely in the next section
Key Influences on Crypto Trends
COVID-19
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, the value of Bitcoin (BTC) plummeted to below $4,000. It has restored its value since, but the drop highlighted how volatile crypto can be.
This example is just one of many cases of the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the crypto industry, highlighting the instability and unpredictability of cryptocurrency as a financial instrument.
Regulatory Environment
Source: Thomson Reuters
Cryptocurrency works on the principle of P2P, which, in theory, shouldn’t be constrained by borders. Nevertheless, different countries have imposed very different regulations on crypto – from a total ban in Bolivia to total legalization in Estonia.
To add to that, some countries treat crypto as a commodity rather than a currency, such as Czechia and Canada. And in some countries, there’s no regulation at all – although given crypto’s increasing prevalence, we expect that to change soon.
These different approaches around the world are shaping the crypto investment landscape. Stricter regulations mean fewer investments in crypto in those countries.
On the other hand, crypto-related laws that don’t ban it but regulate it, such as the American Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which specifically addresses crypto reporting requirements, would likely encourage investment and make it more transparent.
Market Volatility & Regulatory Risks
Cryptocurrency is still a very new financial instrument, making it vulnerable to the volatility of financial markets. The consequences of a negative outcome for even one player can adversely impact the whole market – which is exactly what happened after the collapse of FTX in 2022 and the fraud investigations that followed.
It’s expected that it’ll take many years for FTX clients to get their money back, causing significant damage to crypto’s reputation.
Cryptocurrency Security & Privacy Statistics
Source: FTC
A big reason why cryptocurrency adoption is still not widespread is the scale of security and privacy concerns associated with it. That’s also a big reason why lawmakers around the world are working to impose regulations on cryptocurrency.
There are many serious, legitimate concerns that should be considered as the cryptocurrency ecosystem grows. Let’s take a closer look at some of them.
Key Crypto Security & Privacy Concerns
Some of the key concerns and issues related to security and privacy in crypto are:
High risk of scams with no recourse
Digital wallets vulnerable to hackers
False idea that crypto transactions are private
Cryptojacking
Crypto Romance Scam Statistics
Source: FTC
Romance scams of all kinds are devastating. But in the last few years, romance scams involving cryptocurrency have skyrocketed, raking in millions of dollars from victims.
The idea of the crypto romance scam originated in China, where the crime is known as “pig butchering.” In 2021, the FBI received over 4,325 complaints from cryptocurrency romance scam victims, who collectively lost $429 million.
Experian reports that the average loss incurred by a crypto romance scam victim was $10,000 in 2021
Other Crypto Scam Statistics
Source: FBI
According to the FBI Internet Crime Report 2022, cryptocurrency investment scams rose by 183% that year. This figure represents an increase from 2021’s $907 million in crypto scams to $2.57 billion. Overall, crypto investment scams made up almost 79% of all investment scams that the FBI uncovered in 2022.
Cryptocurrency Breach Statistics
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Unfortunately, Crypto privacy security breaches and crypto-related crimes, such as cryptojacking, go hand-in-hand with the growth of the crypto market. As more people get access to crypto, more malicious actors emerge to take advantage of them.
Until 2021, the most common criminal crypto security breach was the infiltration of crypto exchange systems (CEX). However, that trend has shifted, and now DeFi hacks (DEX) are the most common. In the 2022-2023 period, there have been 132 DeFi breaches worldwide.
The biggest DeFi hack was in March 2022 and saw the Ronin Network come under attack. The network is an Ethereum sidechain built for the play-to-earn NFT game Axie Infinity. The total value of the hack was over $600 million.
Cryptojacking Statistics
Source: Statista
The term “cryptojacking” refers to the unauthorized use of people’s devices to mine cryptocurrency. In 2022, there were almost 140 million cryptojacking attempts globally – a record high and an almost 2X growth from 2020.
According to Kaspersky, cryptojacking initiated through “backdoors” was the most common type of cryptojacking in 2022. The top three countries targeted by cryptojackers were Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The most commonly mined currency was Monero (XMR).
Role of Blockchain in Addressing Crypto Privacy Concerns
In theory, the decentralized nature of blockchain technology and the way it stores data mean that that data can’t be accessed or tampered with. It uses public and private keys which contain no personal data.
However, in public blockchains like Bitcoin, these keys are visible to users and can be used to trace a user’s activity and transactions.
Moreover, despite decentralization, many blockchains are, in practice, centralized due to the amount of power required to keep them running. This means that a relatively small group of individuals control most of the processing, creating privacy and security concerns.
Cryptocurrency Mining Statistics
Cryptocurrency is generated by a process known as “mining,” which requires a lot of computer processing power. In return, computers are rewarded with coins for providing their power or “hashing.”
Mining is hence central to the idea of cryptocurrencies. However, its vast use of power raises environmental and energy-saving concerns. Let’s take a look at the associated crypto-mining statistics.
Crypto Mining Energy Consumption Statistics
Source: Statista
It’s no surprise that countries that mine the most cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, are countries with cheaper energy prices, as mining consumes a lot of power.
In 2023, the amount of energy consumed by Bitcoin mining equaled 81.7% of the total energy consumption of The Netherlands and exceeded that of Czechia by 36%. To put this in perspective, mining a single Bitcoin requires the amount of power used by an average American household for 50 days.
These statistics show that crypto’s energy footprint is substantial, and it’s expected to increase, given that Bitcoin’s supply is reaching its end and more power is required to mine it.
Regional Growth of Crypto Mining Power
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In an optimal decentralization scenario, the mining power wouldn’t be concentrated in just a few regions but rather spread more or less evenly around the world. However, given different levels of crypto uptake, diverging crypto regulations, and different energy prices around the world, that isn’t currently the case.
As you can see from the infographic, China was a crypto mining powerhouse before the second half of 2021, when the government banned cryptocurrency. The power balance then shifted in favor of the US. According to CCAF, the average monthly US share of hashrate was 34.75%.
Environmental Impact
Source: Daniel Batten
It would appear that high energy consumption is a must for mining cryptocurrency. Indeed, environmental concerns are acute and are a key criticism voiced by crypto opponents.
However, there are companies that are working to change this by introducing sustainable crypto mining into the market. They’re adopting green energy to power their mining facilities. In fact, a recent study noted that around 50% of BTC mining is powered by hydro, wind, solar, and other renewable energy.
Cryptocurrency Revenue Worldwide Statistics
We’ve taken a look at crypto investors, crypto risks, and key crypto influences and trends. Among the most important things for any topical market trend, though, are financial considerations. How much revenue is generated by crypto? Let’s find out.
Total Global Crypto Revenue & Market Cap
Source: CoinGecko
In 2023, total revenue in the crypto market is expected to reach $37.87 billion. That figure is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 14.4% to reach $64.87 billion by 2027, by which time crypto will have almost a billion users.
Given the volatile nature of crypto, its market cap fluctuates significantly. For example, CoinGecko tells us that crypto’s total market cap was $1.22 Trillion as of July 12th, 2023. As little as 7 months before, at the start of 2023, the cap was less than $900 billion.
Crypto Transactions by Platform
Source: Statista
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has the biggest slice of the crypto pie at 28% of the market. That lead position is reflected in BTC daily trading volume on the platform, which was at $18.6 billion at time of writing, while Coinbase took the second spot at $2.8 billion.
Crypto Revenue by Region
As of 2023, the US is the region that generates the most crypto revenue in the world. Here’s an overview of cryptocurrency revenue statistics by region (excluding NFT and Web 3.0):
Country
Revenue 2023, USD
Forecast revenue 2027, USD
USA
$17.96 billion
$37.62 billion
UK
$1.89 billion
$3.77 billion
Germany
$1.6 billion
$2.35 billion
Canada
$1.42 billion
$2.41 billion
Russia
$1.33 billion
$1.89 billion
Australia
$807.4 million
$1.38 billion
Brazil
$531.2 million
$970 million
India
$222.7 million
$324 million
South Africa
$161 million
$235.10 million
Kazakhstan
$26.36 million
$33.47 million
Hot or Hype: Is Crypto Here to Stay?
We’ve seen that the interest in cryptocurrency investments is growing among audiences who haven’t traditionally been engaging in investing, signifying behavioral shifts. However, we’ve also seen that the rise of the crypto market and increased interest have been matched by an increasing prevalence of crypto breaches and scams.
We also saw the impact that market fluctuations and changing regulations can have on the crypto market and its potential environmental impacts.
Despite the controversies and the relative instability of the crypto phenomenon, the market is growing, and uptake is increasing. Marketers should therefore be paying close attention to developments and the impact that these innovations will have on different industries and on society as a whole.
References
10 Promising Cryptocurrency Trends to Watch for in 2023 (Imaginovation)
46% of Americans who have invested in cryptocurrency say it’s done worse than expected (Pew Research)
Annual number of cryptojacking attempts worldwide from 2018 to 2022 (Statista)
Bitcoin average energy consumption per transaction compared to that of VISA as of May 1, 2023 (Statista)
Bitcoin By Energy Source (Batcoinz)
Bitcoin’s Privacy Problem—And What Cypherpunks Are Doing to Solve It (Decrypt)
Bitcoin Uses More Electricity Than Many Countries. How Is That Possible? (The New York Times)
Blockchain: A Solution for Data Privacy Concerns (BusinessTechWeekly)
Cryptocurrencies – Worldwide (Statista)
Cryptocurrency Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis… and Regional Forecast, 2021-2028 (Fortune Business Insights)
Cryptocurrency Ownership Data (Triple-A)
Cryptocurrency regulations by country (Thomson Reuters)
Crypto mining – statistics & facts (Statista)
Digital Art & NFTs (Christie’s)
Distribution of Bitcoin mining hashrate from September 2019 to January 2022, by country (Statista)
Distribution of total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance, or DeFi, worldwide across various blockchains as of November 29, 2022 (Statista)
Energy consumption from Bitcoin compared to the total energy consumption in selected countries worldwide as of May 1, 2023 (Statista)
FBI Internet Crime Report 2022 (FBI)
Global Cryptocurrency Market Cap Charts (CoinGecko)
Global Non-Fungible Tokens Market Size By Product Type (Personal, Commercial), By End User (Media And Entertainment, Gaming), By Geographic Scope And Forecast (Verified Market Research)
H.R.3684 – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Congress.gov)
NFT Market Nearing Sub-$1 Billion Era? (DappRadar)
Number of unique wallets that either bought or sold an NFT asset worldwide from 1st quarter of 2020 to 3rd quarter of 2022 (Statista)
Report: Number of ETH-based NFT collections rise over 100% in 2022 (Binance)
Reports show scammers cashing in on crypto craze (Federal Trade Commission)
Romance scammers’ favorite lies exposed (Federal Trade Commission)
Share of respondents who indicated they either owned or used cryptocurrencies in 56 countries and territories worldwide from 2019 to 2023 (Statista)
Sha Zhu Pan “pig butchering” scams – the modern-day cryptocurrency romance fraud (Mishcon de Reya)
Size of the Bitcoin blockchain from January 2009 to June 8, 2023 (Statista)
The aftermath of Axie Infinity’s $650M Ronin Bridge hack (Cointelegraph)
The Average Crypto Investor Is White and Male. Survey Shows That Could Be Changing. (Cheddar News)
The Collapse of FTX: What Went Wrong with the Crypto Exchange? (Investopedia)
The Future of Fraud: Caught in a Bad Romance (Scam) (Experian)
The History of NFTs (LCX)
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic upon stability and sequential irregularity of equity and cryptocurrency markets (Chaos, Solitons & Fractals)
The State of Consumer Banking & Payments Report: H1 2023 (Morning Consult)
The state of cryptojacking in the first three quarters of 2022 (SecureList)
The State of U.S. Crypto Report 2021 (Gemini)
Top 10 Blockchain Security Concerns for 2023 (Analytics Insight)
Top Cryptocurrency Spot Exchanges (CoinMarketCap)
TVL (total value locked) across multiple Decentralized Finance (DeFi) blockchains from November 2018 to April 24, 2023 (Statista)
What is Cryptojacking and how does it work? (Kaspersky)
What Is Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and How Does It Work? (Investopedia)
What Is Sustainable Crypto Mining? (Terawulf)Will FTX traders get their money back? Bankruptcy experts weigh in (ABC News)
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