People thought cryptocurrency would be just another fad. A short-lived craze that comes and goes.
Fast forward a decade, and cryptocurrencies have not outstayed their welcome.
In fact, they’re here to stay.
They’ve grown by leaps and bounds, and the trend is set to continue.
Now:
Bitcoin may have been the first one to emerge in 2009, but plenty more have followed suit. Cryptocurrency statistics confirm that today there are over 3,000 altcoins, and more are sure to come.
But how did this craze came to be? And how has it been going for so long?
We’ve got you covered with the latest stats.
But:
First things first!
What Is Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange. It uses cryptographic functions to conduct financial transactions. Through cryptography, it also controls and creates new units while verifies the transfer of assets.
The top cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, partly because it is the one that started it all.
What makes cryptocurrency unique is that it is decentralized by nature and not controlled by any central or national bank. Cryptocurrency uses blockchain, which also makes it immune to control or interference by any government.
So in brief:
Cryptocurrency is a digital alternative to money that holds its value based on supply and demand.
- A post about Bitcoin appears every 3 seconds on social media.
- The global blockchain market size is expected to reach $57 million by 2025.
- There are 153 million Bitcoin user addresses in 2019.
- Between 3 million to 3.8 million of Bitcoins are lost forever.
- Bitcoin accounts for $6 billionof daily transactions.
- The current market cap of Bitcoin sits at $144.96 billion.
Before we just lay all the facts for you, let’s find out some of the specifics about cryptocurrency.
For instance…
When Did Cryptocurrency Come Into Existence?
To understand the history of modern cryptocurrency, we need to go back to its golden years.
The thing is:
The concept of cryptocurrency is not new.
Oh, no.
It goes all the way back to 1983 when David Chaum conceived his own cryptographic electronic money called ecash.
Cryptocurrency news from 1998 talks about a computer engineer Wei Dai who wrote a paper discussing the idea of “B-money.” The same year, blockchain pioneer Nick Szabo had his attempt with Bit Gold. However, neither project managed to take off.
But things were about to change in 2008!
That year, Satoshi Nakamoto published a now-famous paper on the functionality of a Bitcoin blockchain network. Then, on January 3, 2009, the first block of the Bitcoin network was mined and effectively gave way to blockchain technology. The first mined block will go down in history as the Genesis Block.
Which brings us to:
Important Dates in Cryptocurrency History
January 3, 2009 – Bitcoin block 0 mined and Bitcoin blockchain was born.May 2, 2010 – First recorded purchase of goods with Bitcoin.March 2010 – First cryptocurrency exchange.February 2011 – Bitcoin reaches parity with the US dollar.June 2011 – First cryptocurrency hack, 2,000 BTC stolen.
May 2013 – 10 digital assets emerge in the cryptocurrency market.2014 – The price of Bitcoin plummets by 50%.July 30, 2015 – Ethereum network launched.
August 2015 – First Initial Coin Offering (ICO) takes place.2017 – Bitcoin bounces back and reaches $10,000.
Here’s the key takeaway:
Bitcoin has had a rollercoaster ride so far. And there are two important events we need to highlight.
Firstly, once the price of Bitcoin reached $1,000, it quickly dropped to $300. It took two years to go back up again.
Secondly, 850,000 Bitcoin were stolen via a hack during the 2014 Mt.Gox crash, which equated to $450 million then or $4.4 billion today.
Bitcoin reached its peak in 2017 when it was valued at $19,783.06. It went down from there and eventually dropped by 65% by January 2018.
But that’s not all, folks!
Now comes the interesting part – the big stats!
Fascinating Facts About Cryptocurrency
Here we go, guys:
1. According to Kaspersky, 19% of people bought cryptocurrency before 2019.
The Moscow-based cryptocurrency firm came out with the “Kaspersky Cryptocurrency Report 2019” to reveal that 19% of the world’s population had bought some sort of cryptocurrency by 2019.
Interesting, but…
The company’s cryptocurrency growth statistics also say that 81% of people in the world have never bought cryptocurrency.
Additionally:
Only 10% of people claim they “fully understand what cryptocurrency is.”But an uplifting fact is that out of those people who said they have never used it,
The main reason for not buying any cryptocurrency was its volatile nature.
2. A post about Bitcoin appears every 3 seconds on social media.
The popularity of cryptocurrency may not be at its all-time high, but the fact that a post about Bitcoin appears every 3 seconds on social media certainly says otherwise.
Now:
Bitcoin statistics say its popularity peaked in 2017. That was also the time when Bitcoin had its record value. Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency craze is not over, and people are still keen on buying it.
3. The price of Bitcoin rose by 2,000% in 2017.
The most turbulent period for cryptocurrency took place when Bitcoin reached a value of $1,000 for the first time on New Year’s Day. It was the highest price of Bitcoin measured till then, but it didn’t end there.
Nobody could have predicted what would happen the following year.
Bitcoin skyrocketed, almost reaching a value of $20,000 at one stage.
However, it was a bumpy road.
The price would sometimes go as high as $20,000 and then suddenly drop to $900 within an hour.
Now, check this out:
The biggest drop happened right after Bitcoin reached an all-time high. Having only just missed out on the $20,000 mark, Bitcoin value suffered a 30% decline in mere days before finally settling at around $11,000. The value of $15,000 marked the end of Bitcoin’s historic year.
4. In December 2018, the Market Cap for all cryptocurrencies amounted to $209.2 billion.
Bitcoin may be the most popular cryptocurrency, but it is also the most expensive one. Many others have followed suit over the years and garnered their own success.
The result:
A market cap of $209.2 billion for all cryptocurrency in 2018.
Furthermore, cryptocurrency investment statistics reveal that:
- About 41,800 people who bought cryptocurrency have invested at least $100 in them.
- 78.95% of cryptocurrency owners have bought their coins, while the rest have mined them.
- Only 4.68% of millennialshave invested in cryptocurrency.
Next:
5. There are 24 million Bitcoin wallet addresses in total.
Research on the number of Bitcoin users revealed that there are currently around 24 million Bitcoin addresses open.
But this doesn’t mean there are 24 million Bitcoin users according to the latest cryptocurrency users statistics. One person can have more than a single wallet address. In fact, it is even recommended for frequent users to generate a new Bitcoin address for every transaction they make.
6. The global blockchain market size is expected to reach $57 million by 2025.
Blockchain technology is the key building block of all cryptocurrencies. In effect, it is a form of a public ledger that keeps track of all cryptocurrency transactions
So, the rise in the popularity of cryptocurrency has benefited blockchain technology as well. Blockchain growth statistics predict that it might be worth about $57,641.3 million by the time 2025 comes around.
Boom!
A compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 69.4% is also expected for the period between 2019 and 2025
7. There are 153 million Bitcoin user addresses in 2019.
It is very hard to determine the exact number of Bitcoin users, as there are many factors we need to take into account. Even though there are 153 million Bitcoin addresses open currently, about 147 million of them contain less than 1000 coins.
So, how many people own cryptocurrencies in 2019?
- There are 550,000 active addresses used.
- Account adoption amounts to 24,343.
- Blockchain user number increased to 25,952,849.
Based on the number of exchanges and wallet providers, the user quantity can be anywhere between 13 million and 25 million. Cryptocurrency user share by region in 2017:
- Asia-Pacific 38%
- Europe 27%
- Latin America 14%
- North America 17%
- Africa and the Middle East 4%
8. Litecoin outpaced Bitcoin in 2017 by increasing its value by 7,800%.
Even though Bitcoin’s value grew by a whopping 1,000% in 2017, Litecoin was still able to outmatched it. Cryptocurrency market statistics have revealed that Litecoin increased by 7,800%, which is four times what Bitcoin did.
Litecoin is a relative newcomer in the cryptocurrency world. But though nobody expected such a dramatic rise, it certainly made sense.
Here’s why:
First of all, Litecoin transactions are a lot faster than Bitcoin ones. Second of all, a lot of people had lost faith in Bitcoin and thought it as over-valued at the time.
9. Coinbase added 100,000 users in just 24 hours in August 2019.
The digital currency exchange platform Coinbase increased its number of users by 100,000 in just 24 hours in August 2019. Cryptocurrency statistics say that Coinbase has about 12 million users currently. The growth came after the CME Group announced it planned to launch Bitcoin futures in Q4.
10. There are currently around 2,957 different cryptocurrencies available.
People who are not well versed in the matter often forget that Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency out there. In fact, as of October 8, 2019, there are exactly 2,957 altcoins available.
But that’s not all:
The top 10 most popular cryptocurrencies represent 85% of the total market value. Cryptocurrency stats further indicate that in 2018, 25 out of top cryptocurrencies made 90% of the total market cap, while 59% of the total market capitalization out of those 25 was credited to Bitcoin.
Interesting Facts about Bitcoin
Many fun things have happened in the world of cryptocurrency.
Wouldn’t you like to know more about it?
11. An incident in 2010 caused the creation of 184 billion Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is not limitless:
Bitcoin distribution will stop once 21 million units are mined. However, a 2010 event dubbed the “value overflow incident” allowed for over 184 billion Bitcoin to be created by mistake.
A code vulnerability resulted in someone conducting a transaction that created exactly 184,467,440,737.09551616 coins.
(I challenge you to read that number quickly out loud!)
Luckily, the error was addressed, and the limit was fixed and brought back to its original 21 million.
Currently, there are 18,020,375 Bitcoins in existence with 2,979,625.0 left to be mined.
Now:
12. The blockchain powering Bitcoin processed its 400,000,000th transaction in April 2019.
Quite recently, Bitcoin celebrated a milestone with its blockchain processing the 400,000,000th transaction.
Bitcoin stats estimate that there are 350,000 Bitcoin transactions being made on a daily basis.
Additionally, there are 14,904 Bitcoin transactions conducted every hour or four every second.
13. Between 3 and 3.8 million of bitcoins are lost forever.
News flash:
Not all bitcoins are accounted for!
(Poor lost children of Bitcoin!)
Actually, it is estimated that up to 3.8 million of them are lost forever.
Bitcoin is already a decade old, so it makes it harder and harder to track the whereabouts of all Bitcoin available. Luckily, all the information is still kept in the blockchain, but even all that big data are is enough to determine where these lost bitcoins are.
Crypto analytics predict that most of it ended up on forgotten hard drives or USB flash drives and that most of it was lost during the early days.
What’s more:
Analysts have determined two types of loss: systemic loss. that happened during the earliest days of Bitcoin mining and incremental loss, that happened to individual users over time.
The estimated amount of lost Bitcoins comes to a mind-boggling $30 billion that we are probably never going to see again.
14. Bitcoin accounts for $6 billion of daily transactions.
Bitcoin has substantially increased its daily on-chain transaction. Bitcoin price has been on a rollercoaster ride in recent years, but its daily transactions still put it together with some of the major payment networks in the US. It currently sits comfortably in the third position with about $6 billion incurred per day.
Daily transaction volume:
- VISA – $30.3 billion
- MasterCard – $16.2 billion
- Bitcoin – $6.2 billion
- American Express – $3.2 billion
- Square – $0.2 billion
15. The current market cap of Bitcoin sits at $144.96 billion.
Many people are asking the question:
“What is the market capitalization of Bitcoin?”
This is because the number is constantly changing. It can only be calculated by multiplying the current amount of Bitcoin in circulation by its price. And that’s constantly changing.
In 2013, the Bitcoin market cap was $1.02 billion. It grew exponentially by 2017 to reach the record-setting $238 billion.The current market cap of Bitcoin stands at $165 billion.
Top 5 Cryptocurrencies based on Market Capitalization:
- Bitcoin – $165 billion
- Ethereum – $19.9 billion
- XRP – $12.7 billion
- Bitcoin Cash – $5.3 billion
- Tether – $4.1 billion
16. The first Bitcoin purchase was made for two pizzas in 2010.
The first Bitcoin purchase is known as Bitcoin Pizza Day because a man bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC. As Bitcoin percentage increase racked up over time…… the amount spent on the two pizzas today is worth an incredible $80 million!
How about that?
Laszlo Hanyecz offered to pay 10,000 BTC in exchange for two Papa John’s pizzas (no info about the toppings). A British man took him up on the offer and bought two pizzas for him.
Clever chap!
It was a bargain even at the time, as the offered amount was equal to $41, while the cost of the pizzas was $25.
17. There are more than 5,000 Bitcoin ATMs available all over the world in 2019.
Bitcoin statistics for 2019 reveal the popularity of Bitcoin is growing thanks to an increasing number of ATMs available.
No way!
While there were only 799 Bitcoin ATMs available back in October 2016, three years later there are 5,719. However, the majority of them are actually located in the US (3,571) and Canada (639).
18. The smallest denomination of Bitcoin is called Satoshi.
Like any other currency in the world, Bitcoin also has smaller denominations. Actually, it goes down all the way to the eighth decimal. The smallest one is called Satoshi, which is an homage to the alias of the currency’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. According to cryptocurrency prices, one Satoshi amounts to 0.00000001 BTC.
List of Bitcoin Denominations:
- Satoshi (SAT) – 0.00000001 BTC
- Microbit (uBTC) – 0.000001 BTC
- Milibit (mBTC) – 0.001 BTC
- Centibit (cBTC) – 0.01 BTC
- Decibit (dBTC) – 0.1 BTC
- Bitcoin (BTC) – 1 BTC
- Decabit (daBTC) – 10 BTC
- Hectobit (hBTC) – 100 BTC
- Kilobit (kBTC) – 1,000 BTC
- Megabit (MBTC) – 1,000,000 BTC
The main reason for creating Bitcoin denominations was because the price of Bitcoin was going up. This way, people can buy smaller units without having to pay the full price for one Bitcoin.
19. The size of the Bitcoin blockchain amounts to 232 GB.
Blockchain statistics for 2019 confirm the size of the Bitcoin blockchain during the summer was 232 GB. This compares to 197 GB at the beginning of the year, so Bitcoin usage is clearly on the rise.
20. 50% of Bitcoin nodes are found in three countries.
It is not surprising to hear that almost three-quarters of Bitcoin nodes are found in 10 countries.
But it does sound surprising that three of them host 50% of Bitcoin nodes.
Amazing!
Cryptocurrency trends reveal that 2,625 of them are found in the US, 2,016 are in Germany, and 698 are in France.
Top 10 Countries Running Bitcoin Nodes:
- USA – 2,625
- Germany – 2,016
- France – 698
- Netherlands – 527
- China – 411
- Canada – 402
- UK – 357
- Singapore – 316
- Russia – 276
- Japan – 236
Crypto Statistics by Country
21. Turkey is the country with the highest cryptocurrency adoption rate.
Surprisingly enough, Turkey has a cryptocurrency adoption rate of 20%, which makes it the leader of the pack. Cryptocurrency adoption statistics give us an insight into how fast the people of Turkey are adopting cryptocurrency.
The thing is:
The local currency often devalues while bank trust is low, especially at times of international tensions. This is the main reason Turkish people are turning towards cryptocurrency at this point.
Top Five Countries with the Highest Cryptocurrency Adoption rate:
- Turkey 20%
- Brazil 18%
- Colombia 18%
- Argentina 16%
- South Africa 16%
22. Ecuador became the first country to launch its own digital currency in 2015.
In 2015, Ecuador decided to create its own digital currency, becoming the first country in the world to have its own government-issued cryptocurrency.
Crypto stats also confirm that with the introduction of the SDE token, Ecuador decided to buy all other cryptocurrencies in the country.
Here’s why:
Ecuador abandoned its local currency in 2000 and started using the US dollar. The government says the SDE token will support its dollar-based money system.
23. In 2018, Turkey was the country with the most cryptocurrency owners in the world.
As we’ve already discussed, 2017 was a breakthrough year for all cryptocurrencies, so people started buying them left and right. However, it is once again Turkey that tops the list of most cryptocurrency owners.
Cryptocurrency ownership by country:
- Turkey 18%
- Romania 12%
- Poland 11%
- Spain 10%
- Czech Republic 9%
- USA 8%
Seeing the US in 6th position might come as a surprise.
But there’s a good reason for that:
People in economically weaker countries are buying cryptocurrencies more due to the unstable situation of the local currencies.
24. The UK, the US, and Hong Kong are the countries with the most crypto exchanges.
Based on the report issued by Bitfury, the UK and the US have the most cryptocurrency exchanges by country. They are joined by Hong Kong and Singapore, which come in immediately after them.
However, 10% of all exchanges in the survey have not been traced and do not have countries or registrations.
Top Countries based on the number of crypto exchanges in 2019:
- United Kingdom – 43
- United States – 27
- Hong Kong – 22
- Singapore – 19
- Australia – 9
- Unknown – 33
25. China and India are the leading countries with a strong stance against cryptocurrency.
Not all countries in the world are equally friendly towards cryptocurrency. Based on cryptocurrency adoption by country analysis, China and India are among the most important ones that have declared all cryptocurrencies illegal.
China has issued an umbrella ban to stop all crypto activities within its borders and has additionally announced an access ban for all international/local crypto exchange platforms.
Now:
Every country has its own stand when it comes to cryptocurrency. While most have accepted it, others are not too keen on increasing their crypto volume any time soon.
- Countries with a stance to forbid: China and India.
- Countries with a middle ground stance: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany.
- Crypto friendly countries: Switzerland, Malta, Luxembourg, Singapore, and Belarus.
- Advanced crypto countries: Japan and South Korea.
26. San Francisco is among the major cities that have adopted cryptocurrency.
With the adoption rate of Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies constantly rising, some cities that have gone the distance and accepted its usage on a wide basis. Based on cryptocurrency usage by country and city statistics, San Francisco is one of the leaders.
This estimate is based on the number of Bitcoin ATMs available, Bitcoin merchants, and Bitcoin activity among the population.
Cities with the highest cryptocurrency usage rate:
- San Francisco (USA)
- Vancouver (Canada)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Ljubljana (Slovenia)
- Tel Aviv (Israel)
- Zurich (Switzerland)
- Tampa (USA)
- Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- New York City (USA)
- London (UK)
27. Japan ranked as one of the most important crypto places based on the cryptocurrencies statistics by country.
To say the least, Japan is a very important country for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. In fact, it is the place where the first bitcoins were mined.
But that’s not all:
Firstly, Japan has 3.5 million people trading with cryptocurrencies. Secondly, the Japanese yen average 11% of global trading volume for Bitcoin, followed only by South Korean won and the US dollar.
Key takeaway:
Japan is currently viewed among the top three largest Bitcoin economies.
Next:
28. The US dollar is the most traded national currency for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin statistics by country cannot reveal the exact number of trades done within a country. However, a look at the local currency gives us a much clearer picture. The stats tell us that the US dollar takes the first spot, with 490,809.25 BTC (72.96%) traded.
Unsurprisingly, it is followed by the Japanese yen, with 144,450.71 (21.47%) traded.
All other currencies amount to only 5.57% of traded Bitcoin.
List of Currencies Traded for Bitcoin:
- US dollar (USD) – 490,809.25 BTC (72.96%)
- Japanese yen (JPY) – 144,450.71 BTC (21.47%)
- Korean won (KRW) – 15,064.64 BTC (2.24%)
- Euro (EUR) – 11,338.70 BTC (1.69%)
- British pound (GBP) – 4,615.90 BTC (0.69%)
Was this interesting for you?
Don’t worry, we are not stopping now. There’re plenty more stats to come.
Blockchain Statistics
29. Spending on blockchain solutions jumped to $1.5 billion in 2018.
Blockchain expenditure almost doubled in 2018 compared to a year prior. In 2017, blockchain spending amounted to $945 million, whereas expenditure in the next year amounted to $1.5 billion.
This is amazing!
It goes to show how exactly necessary blockchain technology is becoming in today’s world. Especially when we take into account that $2.9 billion is predicted to be spent by the end of 2019 and a whopping $12.4 billion by 2022 based on future blockchain stats.
30. Blockchain market size expected to climb to $23.3 billion by the year 2023.
Certain expectations say that the blockchain technology market will experience a massive boom in terms of revenue in the forthcoming years. The current income for 2019 amounts to $2.2 billion which is already a staggering increase from a year prior as it went up from $1.2 billion in 2018.
But the biggest leap is expected to happen in 2023.
Based on the future blockchain statistics, the revenue will most likely jump to $23.3 billion, making blockchain technology one of the most important technologies in the world.
31. Survey reveals that 74% of executive teams believe that blockchain technology has a lot of business potential.
Based on the survey conducted by Deloitte, blockchain technology is considered as one of the most important ones for the business sector. 74% of surveyed people confirmed this and another 84% of business leaders said that the technology is scalable.
Additionally, Deloitte’s cryptocurrency market predictions revealed that 23% of the surveyed companies said they would invest $5 million to $10 million in blockchain technology.
32. Ripple (XRP) is one of the few cryptocurrencies that do not use blockchain technology.
Even though the majority of cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology, Ripple is one of the few that doesn’t. In fact, Ripple’s technology is managed by independent servers that constantly compare their transaction records.
One of the key differences is that Ripple can be used as a real-time settlement system. It can provide international payments at low costs and at high speed.
It’s so fast, it’s able to process an incredible 1,500 transactions a second.
Cryptocurrency prices for 2019 say that Ripple is currently valued at $0.29 and has a market cap of $12,754,746,482.
33. Forecast blockchain spending in China may increase to $1.42 billion by 2023.
China is one of the most important blockchain markets in the world at the moment. Back in 2017, the expenditure on blockchain technology amounted to $83 million.
That’s already a huge number!
However, things are probably going to get a lot bigger in the foreseeable future. The way experts see it, China may spend somewhere in the ballpark of $1.42 billion by the year 2023as part of its big data statistics.
The Impact of Cryptocurrency
34. Venezuelans were spending 120 billion bolivars on Bitcoin in just one week in September 2019.
Venezuela has been facing an economic crisis, and the resulting hyperinflation is estimated to hit 10,000,000% by the end of 2019. Things are so bad that a cup of coffee costs 1,000,000 bolivar.
So, Venezuelans have resorted to buying Bitcoin as a way to get by. Bitcoin stats confirm that in September 2019 they were spending 120 billion Bolivar in one week.
At the same time, Venezuela is a haven for crypto miners, as the low cost of electricity make it that much easier to mine Bitcoin.
35. Several states in the US might start to accept Bitcoin as a tax payment.
While the US federal government is still not close to accepting cryptocurrency as an official payment method, some states are thinking of accepting Bitcoin as a valid way to pay tax.
Check this out:
Ohio has faith in the positive cryptocurrency statistics and allows its residents to pay taxes in Bitcoin.
States like Arizona, New Hampshire, California, and Indiana all have legislation under consideration and might join Ohio very soon.
36. Brazilians trade over 100,000 bitcoins in the span of one day.
On April 10, 2019, more than 100,000 bitcoins were traded from Brazil in 24 hours. At first, it was unclear if this was a part of an elaborate cryptocurrency marketing strategy or the result of trader competition.
However:
The event coincided with the value of Bitcoin increasing to more than 20,000 BRL per coin. Estimates predict that somewhere around 2 billion Brazilian real (around $500 million) were transacted that day.
37. Coinbase has added 30 million users since it opened in 2012.
Coinbase is one of the top trading cryptocurrency platforms, with over 30 million users. It added another 8 million new ones in the past year alone by offering the best cryptocurrency exchange in 2018.
Even though things slowed down a bit in 2017, the platform able to come back strong.
Coinbase has reportedly traded more than $150 billion in cryptocurrency since its launch.
Here we are, guys.
Let’s wrap things up now:
Key Takeaways
The rise of cryptocurrency is certainly the next big thing on the market. As we are heading to a world of cashless payment, having access to a digital currency is pretty convenient.
It offers an alternative form of payment as well as an alternative currency that can get you out of a bad situation.
As Bitcoin statistics from 2018 confirmed, it can be invaluable in the hands of a smart investor.
Don’t get me wrong:
Trading in Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency is not a sure thing. There are many things that can happen. Like every venture, it comes with its risks but also with a bountiful reward if you play your cards right.
Bottom line:
Our selection of cryptocurrency statistics are here to help you get an idea of how rewarding it can be. And now, it’s up to you to make the most of it.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading and learning about cryptocurrency as much as we have!
Have a great day, guys!
