The number of digital asset owners worldwide reached 742 million, with around 371 million holding Bitcoin. Crypto adoption continued to expand even as the market contracted and Bitcoin traded below its all-time high (ATH).
Digital asset ownership continued to broaden despite the high concentration of crypto wealth among affluent investors. A significant share of the largest fortunes remained directly tied to Bitcoin, according to the Crypto Wealth Report 2026 by international consulting firm Henley & Partners.
The report provided the following breakdown of crypto wealth:
- 135,694 people held at least $1 million in digital assets, including 92,272 with Bitcoin holdings worth at least $1 million;
- 290 people held at least $100 million in crypto assets, including 151 whose Bitcoin holdings exceeded $100 million;
- 23 people had crypto fortunes exceeding $1 billion, including 9 with Bitcoin holdings worth at least $1 billion.
Henley & Partners noted that clients with substantial crypto wealth tended to be younger and more mobile than the traditional high-net-worth clients the firm advised a decade ago. For the first generation of entrepreneurs who built significant fortunes in crypto, the focus gradually shifted from wealth creation to wealth preservation.
Against this backdrop, countries are competing for affluent digital asset holders through regulation, tax policies, and residence programs. Henley & Partners’ 2026 index of conditions for crypto investors assessed 36 countries using more than 900 data points. Singapore, the UAE, Hong Kong, the U.S., and Switzerland took the top 5 positions. Singapore topped the ranking for the 4th consecutive year, while the UAE climbed from 5th to 2nd place.
Notably, these jurisdictions have ranked among the leaders in Web3 industry development for several years.
The report’s authors noted that crypto adoption continued to expand even as the market contracted and Bitcoin traded below its all-time high. As of August 31, 2026, the global digital asset market was valued at $2.6 trillion, with Bitcoin accounting for around $1.6 trillion. BTC traded about 38% below the all-time high recorded in October 2025. In mid-2026, the gap from that peak exceeded 50%.
The latest downturn was considerably milder than Bitcoin’s previous major cyclical declines. Following the peaks of 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2021, BTC fell by more than 75% each time.
