While the cryptocurrency market has lost 85% of its value in 2018, the number of new users has been on the rise.
Bitcoin (BTC) the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap reached it’s all-time high towards the end of 2017. Other top coins such as Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) experienced their peaks in the beginning of January.
Since then the entire cryptocurrency market has dropped 85% with BTC losing 83% of its value and other coins like XRP and ETH losing over 90% of their value. Looking at these stats is a negative and depressing way to measure the growth of the cryptocurrency market.
However, there are more positive ways to measure growth in the industry. For instance, a new study published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance shows that despite the severe bear market we’ve experienced this year, the onboarding of new users and cryptocurrency adoption has increased.
Significant Rise in User Adoption
According to the study, the number of verified cryptocurrency users almost doubled from what they were last year and what they are now.
By the end of 2017, statistics show there were 18 million users participating in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, now they show there are 35 million users. That’s a substantial rise of 94% more users this year alone.
The Cambridge study used a variety of survey data to come up with their numbers and stated that their data represents individual users and not business clients. This includes hobbyists, retail investors, consumers or users seeking a better payment alternative or investment opportunity through cryptocurrency.
The study indicated user growth rates were higher in 2017 but continued on into 2018 at a rapid pace. The number of new users’ accounts, and ID-verified users continued to grow and is still growing to date.
Another interesting statistic highlighted by the study is the increase in the number of accounts at cryptocurrency exchanges. Just as the number of new users almost doubled from last year, the number of exchange accounts nearly doubled.
In 2017, there were around 80 million user accounts while this year there are about 150 million accounts. The number of users verifying their identity is on the rise too. A reported 20 million users verified their accounts in 2017 and that number has now doubled to 40 million verified user accounts.
What Does this Mean for the Crypto Market?
While the crypto markets have plummeted dramatically, the user adoption figures may be a silver lining. Cryptocurrency adoption increasing despite falling prices is a positive sign for the long term and could signal an eventual recovery is on the horizon.
As new cryptocurrency products and services are being developed, we can expect the number of cryptocurrency users to continue increasing. One such service that should contribute to user adoption is the upgraded Opera web browser featuring a built-in crypto wallet and dapp support.
Developments like this will increase user adoption even more and there many more products and services to come. All we can do as crypto enthusiasts is to remain patient regarding price and focus on the ever growing crypto industry.
What are you doing to spread awareness and adoption of cryptocurrency? Have you got your friends and family involved? Let us know in the comment section below.
