According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group, the number of cryptocurrency holders could reach one billion in 2030.
Cryptocurrency adoption is still in its infancy, says a report from consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bitget and Foresight Ventures. To date, only 0.3% of “individual wealth” is currently invested in cryptocurrencies, compared to 25% in stocks. “A relatively low penetration indicates that there is room for growth”, consider the authors of the study.
They are betting that the cryptocurrency industry is here to stay, “despite” the recent crypto crash. What are the factors that would lead to such a rise? On the one hand, the report establishes a parallel between the adoption curve of the Internet and that of Web 3.
Towards one billion users by 2030
“Using the number of cryptocurrency holders as a proxy for Web 3 users, and comparing it to the adoption rate of Internet users in the 1990s, the message is clear: there is lots of growth to come,” the report points out.
The report estimates that there could be one billion cryptocurrency users by 2030 if the web 3 curve follows the same trajectory as the internet adoption curve.
To date, 4% of the world’s population owns cryptocurrencies, i.e. around 300 million people. As a reminder, in France, 8% of French people have invested in cryptocurrencies in 2021, and 30% plan to invest in these assets next year, according to a study by the association for the development of digital assets (Adan).
Adoption factors
This adoption will be done both by individuals, but also by institutional investors. “Although individual investors remain the biggest holders of cryptocurrencies, institutional interest is growing,” the report said.
Indeed, in the space of a few years, more and more international banks, investment funds, companies (Tesla, Microstrategy…) or even States (El Salvador, Central African Republic) have decided to bet on this ecosystem. According to the report, investment funds even doubled their exposure to cryptocurrencies between 2020 and 2021, to $70 billion.
In addition, the cryptocurrency ecosystem is evolving very rapidly, attracting more individuals and investors according to their centers of interest. Indeed, the 20 largest cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization (with bitcoin and ether at the top of the ranking) now allow access to more than 10,000 applications (NFT, gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi)), against only 800 in 2017.
Despite these beautiful predictions, the adoption of cryptocurrencies is not so far uniform: Americans remain the biggest holders of cryptocurrencies, with an average wallet of 18,000 dollars while Africa is the continent where people invest the least. in cryptocurrencies, with an average wallet of $190 for those who hold them.