Key takeaways
- The total crypto market is worth trillions of US dollars, but its value can swing sharply from month to month.
- Finder's 2021 survey found 17.7% of Australians owned crypto, and Australian investors may receive a 50% capital gains discount.
- Recent estimates put crypto's illicit share at below 1% globally, though it has been higher in past years.
Finding a single source for crucial crypto stats can be a challenge. This guide lists the most important statistics for enthusiasts wanting to understand the state of the market.
General market statistics
Before we delve into what sets participants apart, the first category in our crypto stats deals largely with what ties us together.
- Total value: The entire coin market, made up of thousands of cryptocurrencies, was valued at about US$2.6 trillion on 2 November 2026. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Number of coins: The total number of active cryptocurrencies has grown substantially. As at 2 November 2026, CoinGecko tracked more than 22,000 active cryptocurrencies. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- ICOs: Initial coin offerings (ICOs) help companies raise the money needed to create cryptocurrencies. By March 2020, more than 2,300 ICOs had been launched throughout the industry. (Source: Statista)2
- Five biggest: The top five cryptocurrencies by market cap were Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, BNB and XRP on 2 November 2026. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Recent price movements: The price movements of the top 5 coins over the last 90 days is shown below. Each coin in the index starts at 100. A rise to 110 would represent a 10% rise in price for that coin. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Dominance: The vast majority of the market is made up from the combined market cap of the top 7 coins. The dominance, or share of the total cryptocurrency market, of each of these coins is shown here. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Daily volume: Trade volume measures the level of current activity in the market. The daily crypto trade volume was about US$110 billion on 2 November 2026. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Top five volume: The change in volume for the top five coins over the past 90 days is shown below. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Bitcoin value market share: Bitcoin's share of the cryptocurrency market's current value, referred to as dominance, was about 60% on 2 November 2026. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Bitcoin trading value: More than US$30 billion worth of Bitcoin has been traded over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin's daily volume over the past 90 days is shown here. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Bitcoin blockchain size: The Bitcoin blockchain grows each year as adoption increases. Currently, the network contains more than 320 gigabytes of information. (Source: Statista)2
- Bitcoin ATH: Bitcoin's all-time high was reached on 6 October 2025, with a price of US$126,080. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Bitcoin market cap: Bitcoin's total market cap stood at about US$1.58 trillion on 2 November 2026. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Bitcoin ATMs: By January 2021, there were nearly 14,000 Bitcoin ATMs around the world. (Source: Statista)2
- Annual transactions: By the end of 2020, the number of digital payments worldwide was estimated at around 770 billion transactions. That's an increase of nearly 100 transactions for every man, woman and child on Earth. (Source: Consultancy.uk)3
- Mining revenue: Coins using PoW consensus mechanisms require participants, known as miners, to process transactions with computers. Miners are rewarded with cryptocurrency. The yearly income generated through crypto mining has recently topped US$20 billion. (Source: Digiconomist)5
- Number of NFT collections: Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets, often represented by works of art. Along with DeFi, NFTs have led to increased adoption. As of December 16, 2021, there were 119 NFT collections being tracked by CoinGecko. (Source: CoinGecko)1
- Costliest NFT: The most expensive NFT ever sold, an artwork by Beeple, titled The First 5000 Days, fetched US$69 million. (Source: Finder)6
Crypto geography
Where are the people most interested in cryptocurrency located? And how is adoption of this technology changing in the world around us? The following statistics seek to answer the fundamental questions concerning geography and crypto investment.
- Number of wallets: A great way to track adoption is by looking at the number of Blockchain wallets in use worldwide. By December 2021, Blockchain.com reported more than 37 million verified users and more than 80 million wallets. (Source: Blockchain.com)7
- Percentage owning crypto: Adults owning cryptocurrency, as a percentage of the world's population, now equal 11.4%. (Source: Finder)8
- Twitter mentions: Did you know that every day, more than 14,000 posts concerning cryptocurrency appear on Twitter? If your social media feeds are as cluttered as ours, this statistic might not surprise you. (Source: Reuters)9
- Adoption by geo: The following chart looks at 20 countries with varying adoption rates. Vietnam tops the list with 28.6% of people owning cryptocurrency. Japan comes in last with an adoption rate of only 5.8%. (Source: Finder)8
- Crypto adoption annual increase: Global adoption of cryptocurrencies has soared by more than 880% in 2021. (Source: Chainalysis)10
- Crypto use cases: The share of the global crypto market by end-use has been tracked. In 2020, trading made up 42.8% of the market, followed by ecommerce, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments and remittances, respectively. (Source: Fortune Business Insights)11
Crypto ownership demographics
Demographics describe the differences between participants holding crypto in their portfolios. Categorizing users into representative segments can help us understand who is driving the market forward.
- Gender split: Globally, cryptocurrency ownership varies by gender. Men are generally more likely to own virtual assets than women, but that's not the case in every country. In Norway, 55% of crypto owners are female. (Source: Finder)8
- AU gender gap: The gender gap in Australia favors men. In 2021, 21.8% of men, versus 14.1% of the country's women, owned crypto. (Source: Finder)8
- Crypto ownership: In Australia, 17.7% of the population owns crypto. This is well ahead of the global average of 11.4%. (Source: Finder)8
- Adoption rate: In 2021, Australia ranked among the higher-adoption countries globally. (Source: Finder)8
Bitcoin's environmental impact
The carbon footprint created through cryptocurrency mining has stirred numerous controversies. As the world's largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin's impact is the most notable. The statistics outlined here give insights into Bitcoin's energy consumption.
- Crypto carbon footprint: The carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining are greater than those produced by New Zealand. (Source: The New York Times)13
- Crypto's emissions vs gold's: Bitcoin's emissions are even greater than those created by gold mining, globally. (Source: Digiconomist)5
- Comparison with country electricity: Securing the Bitcoin network uses energy equivalent to the consumption of entire countries. As at 2 November 2026, Digiconomist estimated Bitcoin's annualised electricity use at about 204 TWh, comparable to the power consumption of Thailand. (Source: Digiconomist)5
- Transaction carbon footprint: The carbon footprint of a single Bitcoin transaction is equal to 2,144,091 Visa purchases. (Source: Digiconomist)5
- Mining cost/revenue: Nearly 59% of the total income derived from mining Bitcoin goes to paying the energy costs. (Source: Digiconomist)5
- GPU usage: The need for Bitcoin miners to use graphic processing units (GPUs), rather than central processing units (CPUs), results in larger electricity consumption. (Source: Joule)14
- Bitcoin and renewable energy: In 2020, estimates put Bitcoin mining's renewable share at about 29% (with a higher figure of 39% often cited for proof-of-work mining overall). (Source: Decrypt)15
- Bitcoin and global warming: It has been estimated that the emissions from Bitcoin mining alone could raise global temperatures by 2 degrees in the future. (Source: Nature Climate Change)16
- Bitcoin vs cars' carbon footprint: A single US$50,000 purchase of Bitcoin has a carbon footprint of approximately 270 tons. That's roughly equal to the total footprint of 60 internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. (Source: Financial Times)17
- Bitcoin vs planes' carbon footprint: Bitcoin's carbon emissions are so large, its total falls somewhere between those created by American Airlines, with 200 million passengers per year, and the entire US government. (Source: Financial Times)17
- Value to carbon ratio: Every US$1 billion of inflows into Bitcoin creates 5.4 million tons of carbon emissions. (Source: Financial Times)17
Cryptocurrency regulation
Regulations are increasingly important to investors in the global market. The following crypto stats can help you understand how the rules have changed.
- Crypto regulations by country: Which countries allow for cryptocurrency participation, and which ban the practice? This graphical representation from Thomson Reuters helps sort out crypto's legal playing field across the world: (Source: Thomson Reuters)18
- Crypto as legal tender: As the first nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, El Salvador has set a global precedent. Whether more countries will follow suit is yet to be seen. (Source: be[IN]crypto)19
- Countries banning crypto: While El Salvador opens its arms to cryptocurrency's potential, many countries have severely restricted, or even banned, cryptocurrency transactions. These countries currently include Algeria, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Egypt, Iran, India, Iraq, Nepal, North Macedonia, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam. (Source: euronews)20
- IRS underreporting: The IRS has long believed that cryptocurrency transactions are under-reported. In 2018, a federal court agreed with the IRS, granting a summons of Coinbase records and refusing Coinbase's request for an evidentiary hearing. (Source: Journal of Accountancy)22
- Countries with no guidance: Of 43 countries surveyed by the OECD, 13 still had no guidance available on the classification of crypto assets. These countries include Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Grenada, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Saint Lucia, Spain and Sweden. (Source: OECD)23
- Taxable events: Generally, exchanging crypto for fiat, other virtual assets, or even goods and services (including wages) will generate a taxable event. (Source: OECD)23
Crypto crime
As more users have come online, cyber crime has increased dramatically. But how does this affect the cryptocurrency market? The following statistics may surprise you.
- Crypto heists: The amount of money stolen by crypto criminals year after year has decreased substantially. In 2020, the amount stolen decreased by US$2.6 billion from the year before. That equates to a decrease of 57%. (Source: finaria)24
- Defi hacks: In 2020, decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks equated to nearly 25% of all hacked volume. (Source: Ciphertrace)25
- Hacking groups: 60% of all publicly reported crypto hacks were linked to just 2 professional hacking groups. (Source: Chainalysis)26
- fraud v hacks: According to information gathered by Ciphertrace, blockchain fraud remains much more prevalent than cryptocurrency hacks and thefts. (Source: Ciphertrace)25
- Crypto fraud percentage: In 2020, 73% of cryptocurrency crimes were a result of fraud. (Source: Ciphertrace)25
- Crypto thefts: In 2020, cryptocurrency thefts, as opposed to fraud, totaled US$513 million. (Source: Ciphertrace)25
- Scam ICOs: According to research published by Bloomberg, a large share of ICOs have been identified as scams, with one Bloomberg-hosted analysis putting the figure at around 78% across ICOs it reviewed. (Source: Bloomberg)27
- Criminals and wallets: US$41.2 million was sent directly to criminally associated wallet addresses from US exchanges. (Source: Ciphertrace)25
- Fraud recovery: After a breach of around US$285 million in September 2020, KuCoin reported it was able to recover 84% of the compromised funds. (Source: KuCoin)
- Crypto illegal ratio: Overall, only 1.1% of cryptocurrency transactions are linked to illicit activity. (Source: Ciphertrace)25
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Finder writers are subject matter experts and use primary sources, in-depth research and interviews with other experts to ensure you're getting accurate, up-to-date information. Articles are fact checked in line with our editorial guidelines.
- CoinGecko
- Statista
- Consultancy.uk
- Finder - Cryptocurrency Weather Report
- Digiconomist
- Finder - Most Expensive NFTs
- Blockchain.com
- Finder - Cryptocurrency Adoption
- Reuters
- Chainalysis
- Fortune Business Insights
- BBC
- The New York Times
- Joule
- Decrypt
- Nature Climate Change
- Financial Times
- Thomson Reuters
- be[IN]crypto
- euronews
- TokenTax
- Journal of Accountancy
- OECD
- finaria
- Ciphertrace
- Chainalysis
- Bloomberg
- Global Cryptocurrency Market Cap Charts | CoinGecko
- The 2020 State of Crypto Crime: Part 1
- 2026 Crypto Crime Report Introduction
- CoinGecko Global Market API
- World Bank — The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19
- Blockchain.com Brings Crypto Trading To Washington State
- Cryptocurrency Market to Exhibit 11.1% CAGR in 2021-2028
- Global Crypto Adoption Up 880% in 2021
- 3rd Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study
- August 2026 The Indonesia Financial Services Authority Board of Commissioners’ Meeting: Financial Services Sector Performance And Intermediation Remain Solid, Supporting Accelerated Economic Growth
- CipherTrace Cryptocurrency Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Report — January 2021
- KuCoin Appoints BC Wong as CEO in 2025 Amid Regulatory Settlement
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