Which Countries Own the Most Cryptocurrency?
There was a point when many individuals around the globe were skeptical and thought that cryptocurrency would never amount to anything. Well, those days are gone, and cryptocurrency adoption is sweeping the globe.
No matter where you live, at this point, you’ve heard of cryptocurrency. But which countries own the most? Keep reading to find out the answer!
What Country Owns the Most Cryptocurrency?
Although this may seem like a simple answer, it is actually a bit difficult to answer. Do you want to know which country has the most cryptocurrency owners? Or the country that has the most monetary equivalent stored in crypto? Or maybe you even want to know what country has the highest percentage of the population that owns crypto.
Regardless of which of these questions you want the answer to, we have tried to do our best to answer them all in our list. So, ensure you read the details and don’t just take the headings at face value!
1. India
In terms of the largest number of cryptocurrency owners, India takes the cake. With a large population of 1.429 billion people, 93 million of those own at least some sort of cryptocurrency. Many individuals, however, own a small amount—though we suspect there are a few crypto whales hanging out there, too.
That being said, this number is but a fraction of the population, meaning India doesn’t even make the chart of the countries with the largest percentage of cryptocurrency owners.
2. China
Another behemoth with a population of 1.411 billion, it is no surprise that China is second on our list of countries with the most cryptocurrency owners, with an estimated total of 59 million people. The crazy thing is, we suspect that number may actually be higher because cryptocurrency isn’t legal in China (though our numbers are based on validator data).
Additionally, we think that if cryptocurrency was legal in China, there would be way more individuals willing to buy. A country based on technology, China led the world in early adaption until cryptocurrency was made illegal in 2021.
Despite the fact that China has made cryptocurrency illegal, they are suspected to rank second on our list of countries with the most money invested in cryptocurrency. This is because the Chinese government alone holds approximately 19,000 BTC.
3. United States
The United States is third on our list, with an estimated 52 million cryptocurrency owners. Like China and India, however, these numbers are quite paltry in terms of per capita. With a population of 334.9 million, this equates to just 15% of Americans owning crypto.
This could change in the future, though, especially since the next political administration has already been labeled as crypto-friendly.
It is also worth noting that while it is difficult to reach an exact monetary number, it is suspected that the United States is number one on the list of countries with the most financial value stored in cryptocurrency. This is based on the estimate that Americans hold a massive 213,297 BTC (and could possibly have more that isn’t known). This equates to an impressive $19.6 billion in BTC alone before even adding the value of other tokens (like Ethereum) held.
**We should also mention that 70,000 of the American Bitcoins are held by the Winklevoss twins. Elon Musk is the second largest established holder with a reported 11,509 Bitcoins.
4. United Arab Emirates
Now is the part of the list where we get to the countries that have the largest percentage of cryptocurrency owners across the entire population. The top spot for this is taken by the UAE, which, although they only have 3 million individuals in their population that hold cryptocurrency, with a population of 9 million, that means 30% of the population holds at least some crypto.
Of course, this makes sense, as the UAE also leads the world in technological advancement and embraces cryptocurrency with open arms. In fact, we suspect that if China did the same, we would see a similar percentage holding cryptocurrency there!
5. Vietnam
Although Vietnam snagged the 5th place on our list, the numbers here are actually quite impressive. Vietnam ranks second in terms of percentage of cryptocurrency holders, with an impressive 21.2%. This equates to 21 million of the population owning crypto—which is more than twice the number of cryptocurrency holders in the UAE. (Also, impressive because cryptocurrency is technically illegal in Vietnam).
Only time will tell, but we suspect that we will be hearing more about cryptocurrency adoption in Vietnam in the future, thanks to these numbers.
6. Iran
Iran comes in 4th on our list for the percentage of cryptocurrency holders in the population. The United States actually comes in 3rd, but we already listed them as having the 3rd most cryptocurrency holders in total.
In Iran, 13.5% of the population owns cryptocurrency, leading to an estimated 12 million crypto holders.
7. The Philippines
Another surprise on our list, the Philippines comes in 5th in terms of the percentage of cryptocurrency holders. Sixteen million individuals in The Philippines own some type of cryptocurrency, equating to just over 13% of the population. The Philippines, however, suffers the same problem as India, with a large number of low-value holders possibly skewing the data as they did not appear in the estimates of the countries with the largest monetary values squirreled away in crypto.
Honorable Mentions
This list is the combination of three lists: the largest number of cryptocurrency holders by country, the largest percentage of the population holding cryptocurrency, and the largest monetary value held in cryptocurrency. As such, we only mentioned the top 2-5 of each list, with numerous countries appearing in all three lists. Below are the remainders of those lists for your reference.
Most Cryptocurrency Owners
5. Vietnam (20.9 million)
6. Pakistan (15.8 million)
7. The Philippines (15.7 million)
8. Nigeria (13.2 million)
9. Indonesia (12.2 million)
10. Iran (12 million)
Largest Percentage of Population Holding Crypto:
6. Brazil (12%)
7. Saudi Arabia (11.4%)
8. Singapore (11.1%)
9. Ukraine (10.6%)
10. Venezuela (10.3%)
Largest Monetary Value Stored in Cryptocurrency
3. United Kingdom (more than $6.1 billion)
4. El Salvador (more than $580 million)
5. Ukraine (more than $225 million—though much of it has been spent on war at this point)
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