Brian Armstrong, the CEO of one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges to date – Coinbase, showed an ever-increasing bullish stance on cryptos, predicting the industry would receive a drastic user boost. However, the crypto community sees Armstrong's expectations to be considerably higher than the current situation. Armstrong predicts nearly 80% of the world's population to have some kind of interaction with the world of cryptocurrencies, be it direct or indirect.
If Armstrong's prediction proves right, it will change the current financial paradigm and the way people interact with money.
In order for Armstrong's predictions to happen in real life, the crypto community needs to boost the adoption rate with the whopping 9900%. As of press time, the total amount of crypto users worldwide estimates at around 50 million users. The number includes users who actively participate in crypto trading and transactions, as well as crypto holders. However, the data may be overblown, as recent studies suggest at least 10% of the total wallet addresses are non-operational.
Armstrong's big predictions are not entirely fiction, data shows. Online statistics and market research company Statista revealed a chart, showing 45 million active wallet users in 2019. The numbers doubled from 2017 when Statistia found only 24 million active crypto wallets. Statista also announced that the total number of active Internet users worldwide surpassed 4,5 billion, with a tendency for exponential growth.
For example, social media giant Facebook recorded over 2,5 billion active users. The enormous user base means Facebook would have a head start when the company decides to launch its Libra stablecoin project. Libra would allow users with no bank accounts to access instant money transactions. Furthermore, Libra would record a spike in active crypto users, with numbers leading close to Armstrong's predictions. However, Libra still sees regulatory pullback, as more and more overseers express their warns of risk for the current monetary system.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government is working intensively to release a central bank digital currency. Even President Xi Jinping ordered Chinese authorities to "boost the development and deployment of blockchain applications." India also follows the trend, with the Supreme Court of India ruled against the ban on cryptocurrencies, imposed by the Reserve Bank of India. With over 35% of the world's population living in China and India, access to crypto products and services for the citizen of India and China may skyrocket the adoption rate of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Sweden also got involved in the crypto race, as the country announced it enters its first test phase for an e-krona project, developed by Sweden's Riksbank.