Crypto wallets are an essential accessory for anyone using cryptocurrencies. This is a safe, easily accessible place to store digital coins. It is no surprise to see that more of them are opened when prices rise or certain tokens are feature heavily in the news.
A recent piece of research by market data firm Statista has revealed some very interesting figures. They looked into the number of crypto wallets in use and how this total has grown.
The Overall Figures
It should be pointed out that this study was based on the growth recorded solely by Blockchain.com. The results show that they had more than 42 million blockchain wallets in use at the time. This number was from the end of the first six months of 2019. This huge figure contrasts with the 8 million crypto wallets they had registered by the middle of 2016.
Blockchain.com is one of the most popular wallet providers around. The figures reveal that they have seen a surge of users in the last 3 years. In this period, their total figure for wallet users has increased 5 times over. Since the numbers are from a few months ago, they could be even higher now.
Bitcoin.com is another big name in this industry. They brought out their own wallet in mid-2017 and now how over 34.7 million active wallets.
Estimates for the number of users for other wallets are hard to come by. Therefore, an overall global figure can only be estimated. For instance, back in 2017, Coinbase reported 45 million wallets.
When Did Most New Crypto Wallets Get Opened?
By looking at the data, we can see a couple of major spikes in activity. The initial surge came between the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2017. You may recognise this at a time when Bitcoin and other digital currency prices rocketed. Lots of new wallets were opened then.
The other important phase was in the 2nd quarter of this year. This period was when some 6 million new users joined the blockchain revolution. It isn’t yet clear whether there is a single reason for the huge growth levels in this quarter.
With many different types of wallet now available, we could see increasing levels of diversity from now on. While some people prefer online wallets, others opt for desktop, hardware or paper versions.
It is clear that more and more people are opening crypto wallets. Keeping an eye on these statistics may help us to understand the market conditions a little more, too.