The cryptocurrency industry may be just one cycle away from reaching full-scale mainstream adoption, making digital assets a globally accepted alternative payment means, according to industry insiders.
There were an estimated 659 million cryptocurrency holders at the end of 2025, according to a December research report from centralized exchange Crypto.com.
However, continuing cryptocurrency adoption may see the industry surpass 5 billion users within the next decade, according to Thomas Prévot, head of operations in France at Crypto.com.
“Within 10 years, we’ll reach 5 billion users,” said Prévot during a panel discussion at Waib Summit 2025 in Monaco, adding:
“We’re about one growth cycle away from full mainstream adoption. I’m not talking about 1 billion users. I’m talking about 5 billion users.”
“We’re one cycle away,” explained Prévot, adding that the 5 billion milestone means that crypto will be used as “ubiquitously” as credit cards for payments today.
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However, he added that he only expects the next big wave of mainstream adoption after the market recovers from the following “down cycle,” at the beginning of the next bull market cycle.
Reaching the first billion users would signal significant mainstream acceptance that could establish cryptocurrencies as an alternative payment system, fulfilling the original vision of Satoshi Nakamoto, who created Bitcoin (BTC) as a censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer transaction tool.
Mainstream cryptocurrency adoption may push Bitcoin to an “ultimate price” of $700,000 per token, based on an assumed 3% portfolio allocation, predicted popular Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo in August 2024.
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The pathway to 1B crypto users: retail “price speculation” or blockchain use cases
Retail “price speculation” may be the first pathway to bring the first billion crypto users, akin to the 2021 market cycle, according to Roy van Krimpen, general manager for Western Europe at OKX exchange.
“Getting to a billion can happen in one of two ways,” with price speculation being a “huge” driver for retail interest, said van Krimpen during the panel discussion, adding:
“We’ve seen that in 2021, where the market more than quadrupled in a span of a few months due to retail speculation and investors.”
“The second option would be through actual usage of blockchain technology,” such as payments, which imply “consumer behavior changes” that take longer compared to other market trends, he explained.
Other industry insiders, including Chintan Turakhia, senior director of engineering at Coinbase, also see blockchain application usability and more beginner-friendly applications as the key to reaching the first billion crypto users.
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