By the end of 2022, about 3.2 billion people used crypto wallets. The number of digital asset wallet users could grow by 2 billion by 2030.
Ark Invest shared the results of its “Big Ideas 2023” study, which touched on the cryptocurrency wallet market in particular. According to analysts, 3.2 billion people, or 40% of humanity, already use crypto wallets. This figure can grow by 8% per year, so the number of wallet users could reach 65% of the world’s population by 2030.
Researchers report that switching to crypto wallets for “billions of consumers and millions of merchants” would save about $50 billion in fees and intermediary services. For example, Block Inc. (ex-Square) gave up about 60% of all customer transaction fees to third parties in 2022.
The increasing popularity of digital wallets is also driven by:
- government initiatives for digital assets;
- a friendly P2P ecosystem;
- a decline in the popularity of cash.
Ark Invest analysts believe that by 2030, more than half of all digital payments will be made by cryptocurrency wallet users through the P2P model.
Notably, Huobi analysts recently provided far lower figures. According to their data, as of November 2022, the number of crypto wallet users was 85 million, an annual increase of 6.3%. Meanwhile, the total revenue of wallet operators was nearly $1.4 billion last year, according to Huobi Research. This figure can rise to $3 billion over the next ten years.
On the other hand, 102 million crypto wallet downloads were recorded in 2022, a 42% drop from the year before. The popularity and prospects of this segment show that many big companies, from Telegram to JPMorgan, develop their own crypto wallets.
