A billion crypto users in the next few decades

The Coinbase Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong predicts a substantial increase in cryptocurrency users within the next few decades. The 5 times increase which could potentially reach one billion users could happen in the next 10-20 years.

Currently, the number of those involved in crypto is at around 200 million, yet Armstrong believes that the future development of crypto is inevitable. Armstrong recently spoke with Cathie Wood, the CEO of ARK Investment Management LLC at the Milken Institute Global Conference where he stated that crypto will account for a significant part of GDP and that more than half of Washington officials are already pro-crypto. Bitcoin, which is the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, has gone through a turbulent phase after hitting an all-time high in November of nearly $69,000 which was followed by a 17% downfall since the beginning of this year. Yet if taking into account the steady increase of crypto users over the past years, Coinbase’s CEO projection of the future market is more than reasonable. The first half of 2021 showed that the number of crypto users doubled and reached 220 million. Cathie Wood, in turn, believes companies and institutions will be at a disadvantage if they continue to underestimate blockchain technology. “In the case of DeFi and next-generation internet, we are seeing a lot of financial companies losing talent to crypto, so they have to take it seriously, or else they are going to be hollowed out,” - Wood said.