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The global cryptocurrency market saw a significant increase in ownership during the first half of the year, according to crypto.com’s latest market size report.
The number of owners increased by 6.4% to 617 million in June from 580 million at the end of 2023. The growth was primarily driven by key developments in the bitcoin and ethereum ecosystems, in particular the launch of spot exchange-traded funds linked to the two digital assets.
bitcoin (btc) remains the dominant cryptocurrency, growing 5.9% to reach 314 million by mid-year, representing 51% of all cryptocurrency holders.
Meanwhile, ethereum (eth) saw a sharper rise in adoption, up 9.7%, bringing the total number of eth owners to 136 million, representing 22% of the global market.
Growth drivers
According to the report, two major events drove the rise in btc adoption. The launch of bitcoin spot ETFs in the US and the fourth halving of the flagship cryptocurrency in April played a pivotal role.
The halving event reduced block rewards for miners from 6.25 btc to 3.125 btc, reinforcing bitcoin’s appeal as “digital gold” and attracting significant institutional interest. The report estimates that between 388,000 and 1.6 million people have invested in btc through US spot ETFs, further boosting its adoption.
ethereum’s growth was primarily due to the Dencun upgrade in March, which significantly reduced transaction fees on ethereum’s Layer 2 (L2) networks. This upgrade improved ethereum’s scalability, leading to an increase in L2 activity which now accounts for approximately 90% of all transactions on the ethereum network, up from 77% before the upgrade.
Additionally, liquid re-staking initiatives in ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem drove the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi to $100 billion in Q1, almost double the previous quarter.
Institutional adoption
The report highlights strong growth in March and April, with monthly increases of 1.7% and 1.6% respectively, coinciding with the bitcoin halving and Dencun upgrade. During this period, institutional investors played a pivotal role in bitcoin’s sustained growth, with U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs attracting over $14 billion in inflows by the end of June.
ethereum also benefited from increased institutional interest, particularly before the SEC dropped its investigations into eth and the regulator approved eth spot ETFs, two aspects that have boosted investor confidence in ethereum and the broader market. The initial surge in interest sent eth prices up to $3,900 in June.
Spot ETFs have posted remarkable performance since their respective launches, and bitcoin-linked funds have broken several records in the ETF market.
However, despite significant growth during the first half of the year, the market has struggled to break above all-time highs in recent weeks due to increased selling pressure amid macroeconomic pressures and the deteriorating geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
At the time of writing, btc was trading at $59,121, while eth was trading at $2,612, both significantly below the high price reached this year.
bitcoin Market Data
At the time of publication 7:59 pm UTC on August 19, 2024bitcoin is ranked number 1 by market cap and the price is below 0.81% Over the past 24 hours, bitcoin has a market cap of 1.17 trillion dollars with a 24-hour trading volume of $25.35 billion. Learn more about bitcoin ›
Cryptocurrency Market Overview
At the time of publication 7:59 pm UTC on August 19, 2024The total cryptocurrency market is valued at $2.09 trillion with a 24 hour volume of $59.13 billionbitcoin dominance is currently at 55.86%Learn more about the cryptocurrency market ›