MANY people buy cryptocurrency in the hope of getting rich. But this kind of risky investment doesn't necessarily mean big bucks for everyone. In fact, relatively few buyers hold millions of dollars' worth of crypto assets worldwide, according to a recent report.
While the sector has been experiencing an unprecedented crisis of confidence for several months, cryptocurrency remains a widespread investment. Some 425 million people hold crypto worldwide, of whom 210 million have Bitcoin. But far fewer have amassed a small fortune from these virtual currencies.
The Crypto Wealth Report from investment firm Henley & Partners estimates that only 88,200 people worldwide own the equivalent of at least US$1 million in crypto. This represents less than one per cent of all users of these virtual currencies. Half of them hold this amount in Bitcoin, attesting to the popularity of the most famous cryptocurrency.
There are even fewer crypto centi-millionaires and billionaires, with the former reportedly totalling just 182 individuals, 78 of whom owe their status to Bitcoin holdings. The latter category is thought to comprise 22 investors. Of these, six are reported to be Bitcoin billionaires.
These figures should be treated with caution, however, given the highly volatile nature of digital currencies. Nevertheless, they show that investors are keen to embrace these assets, as much out of a taste for easy money as out of distrust of the traditional banking system.
But interest in crypto varies across age groups and from country to county.
It's Singapore that tops Henley & Partners' Global Crypto Adoption Index. The top three also includes Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, followed by Hong Kong in fourth and the United States in fifth place. Australia (6th), Canada (8th), Austria (15th) and Portugal (18th) have embraced this new form of finance more than France or Belgium, for example. The geography of cryptocurrency adoption shows that these digital assets are also flourishing in economically challenged emerging countries such as Malaysia (10th), Thailand (11th), and Antigua and Barbuda (14th).