Data: Global crypto asset holders surge 6.4% to 617 million in 2024

Source: Blockchain Knight

According to Crypto.com’s latest market size report, the number of holders in the global Crypto asset market increased significantly in the first half of this year.

As of June, the number of holders increased by 6.4% from 580 million at the end of 2023 to 617 million.

The main reason for the increase is the important development of the BTC and Ethereum ecosystems, especially the launch of spot trading funds related to these two digital assets.

BTC remains the most dominant Crypto asset, with its holdings increasing by 5.9% to 314 million by the middle of this year, accounting for 51% of all Crypto asset holders.

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s adoption rate grew faster, increasing by 9.7%, bringing the total number of Ethereum holders to 136 million, accounting for 22% of the global market.

The report points out that two major events have driven the growth of BTC adoption. The launch of spot BTC ETFs in the U.S. and the flagship Crypto asset’s fourth halving in April both played a key role.

The halving event reduced miner block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, enhancing BTC’s appeal as “digital gold” and attracting significant institutional interest.

The report estimates that between 388,000 and 1.6 million individuals have invested in BTC through U.S. spot ETFs, further driving BTC adoption.

Ethereum’s growth stems primarily from the Dencun upgrade in March, which significantly reduced transaction fees on the Ethereum L2 network. The upgrade enhanced Ethereum’s scalability, leading to a surge in L2 activity, which now accounts for approximately 90% of all transactions on the Ethereum network, up from 77% before the upgrade.

In addition, liquidity re-staking programs in the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem pushed DeFi’s total locked value (TVL) to $100 billion in the first quarter, nearly 2x higher than the previous quarter.

The report highlights strong growth in March and April, with monthly increases of 1.7% and 1.6% respectively, coinciding with the BTC halving and Dencun upgrade.

During this period,institutional investors have played a key role in BTC’s continued growth, with U.S. spot BTC ETFs attracting more than $14 billion in inflows by the end of June.

Ethereum has also benefited from increased institutional interest, particularly ahead of the SEC’s abandonment of its investigation into Ethereum and the regulator’s approval of a spot Ethereum ETF, both of which boosted investor confidence in Ethereum and the market as a whole.

The initial surge in interest led to a rally in ETH prices to $3,900 by June.

Spot ETFs have delivered impressive performance since their launch, with BTC-pegged funds breaking multiple records in the ETF market.

However,despite significant growth in the first half of the year, the BTC market has struggled to break through all-time highs in recent weeks as selling pressure increased due to macroeconomic pressures and worsening geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

As of now, BTC is trading at $59,121, while ETH is trading at $2,612, both of which are down significantly from the highest prices reached this year.