Cambridge University tallies 100 million cryptocurrency users worldwide

The number of cryptocurrency users worldwide over the past two years has almost tripled—from 35 million to 101 million people. The figures are from a market report on digital currencies prepared by researchers at Cambridge Judge Business School.

The survey included 280 companies from 59 countries, including cryptocurrency exchanges, payments firms, custody services and mining pools.

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Analysts estimate that in Q3 2020 the number of accounts on centralized Bitcoin exchanges reached 191 million. Non-custodial wallets were not included in these calculations.

Dynamics of open accounts on Bitcoin exchanges and cryptocurrency users. Data: Cambridge University.

“The growth in the number of users by 189% is explained both by a rise of 37% in open accounts and by an increase in the share of cryptocurrency investors who hold multiple accounts,” the analysts write.

In North America, 30% of the audience consists of institutional and corporate clients, while in Asia and Latin America their shares are 16% and 10%, respectively.

Structure of cryptocurrency users by region. Data: Cambridge University.

Seven in ten crypto service providers store customer assets in cold storage. Eighty-one percent use multi-sig for cold wallets and seventy percent for hot wallets. Forty-six percent of service providers do not insure their risks.

Structure of crypto-asset service providers by KYC checks. Data: Cambridge University.

Dynamics of available cryptocurrencies among service providers in the digital-asset space. Data: Cambridge University.

In terms of volume and number of transactions, conversions from fiat to crypto and back still dominate (65% and 63%, respectively). Analysts see this as evidence that engagement with cryptocurrencies largely occurs through Bitcoin exchanges.

Structure of transactions with crypto-asset service providers. Data: Cambridge University.

Dynamics of available cryptocurrencies among service providers in the digital-asset space. Data: Cambridge University.

Back in August, Jump Capital analysts named India, Indonesia and Mexico as the most promising countries for cryptocurrencies. Earlier Arcane Research analysts highlighted this in relation to Africa.

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