In our latest adoption study (as at the end of 2024), around 65% of all $BTC (+0.25%)-owners worldwide were in emerging markets, which corresponds to around 300 million people. India leads with around 160 million users, followed by Indonesia, Brazil and Nigeria. In percentage terms, the UAE is in the lead with 19%, followed by Vietnam with 14% and Turkey with 12%. The pattern is both interesting and consistent: where local currencies are weak and monetary policy is considered unreliable, this gap is filling. #bitcoin fills this gap.
The number of $BTC (+0.25%)-users nearly doubled between 2022 and 2024, reaching 467 million - well above the 20% that our adoption model had assumed based on global internet growth in the second decade. In the US, the number of users increased from 21 million to 35 million, driving increased capital flows from high-income countries into the market and triggering significant ETF inflows. Adoption is accelerating in absolute terms and also remains at a high level in percentage terms. Whether this is reflected in the price is another question - but the fundamentals on the demand side remain strong.
