- Address vs. User: The a16z report reveals that blockchain addresses don’t directly correlate to active users, complicating true crypto user measurement
- Unique Methodology: By analyzing wallet behavior and cross-checking industry data, a16z suggests an active user estimate between 30–60 million
- Growth Potential: With 617 million global crypto holders, there’s a huge opportunity to re-engage dormant users as blockchain applications evolve
So, you’re probably wondering: just how many people are genuinely active in crypto today? With the industry maturing, it’s a question the a16z team sought to answer in their latest 2024 State of Crypto report.
They dug deep into the data, exploring how many people are actually using crypto—not just creating addresses. Spoiler alert: it’s a complex question and far from a simple headcount.
How Many People Are Actually Using Crypto?
Let’s start with the basics. In traditional software, “users” are pretty straightforward; they’re measured by daily or monthly active users (DAUs or MAUs). But in crypto? It’s a whole different ball game.
Each user is represented by pseudonymous “addresses” on a blockchain. Here’s the catch: one person can create several addresses, and for reasons like privacy or security, it’s common for people to juggle multiple identities on-chain. And some people might even share an address—through multisigs, for instance.
So, when you see a big number like 220 million monthly active addresses (the figure observed in September 2024), that’s not necessarily telling us how many people are behind them.
The Challenges of Counting Crypto Users
The tricky part is this: creating multiple addresses on most blockchains is now extremely cheap, thanks to things like Layer 2 rollups. This makes it easy for users to spin up dozens or even hundreds of addresses—especially if they’re aiming to capitalize on airdrops and other rewards.
Ever heard of “airdrop farming”? It’s the strategy some users employ by creating numerous addresses to maximize tokens earned from protocol airdrops. This practice makes it harder to determine who is an active crypto user versus who is simply a savvy “farming” bot.
So, how did a16z tackle this question? They got creative. Here are two main methods they used to sift through the noise and get closer to the truth.
Method #1: Filtering Out Suspect Addresses
One approach was to filter out certain types of addresses that likely belong to bots. This involved looking for patterns like:
- Dispersion Contracts: Addresses that received their funds from a smart contract designed solely to distribute funds across multiple addresses, suggesting one source is supplying funds across a series of related addresses
- Transient Addresses: Addresses that hold almost no funds at the beginning and end of a given period—often a sign of bot-like, temporary usage rather than an actual user intending to transact consistently
- Transaction Patterns: Addresses with high-frequency activity over short periods tend to be bots. Real people are less likely to initiate hundreds of transactions in a single minute, whereas bots can do it with ease
- Social-linked Addresses: There’s also optimism that certain addresses are real people when linked with identity protocols like ENS or Farcaster, which require some setup
These filters helped the a16z team get closer to identifying actual people, not just addresses, in their user count.
Method #2: Extrapolating from Wallet User Data
They also looked into off-chain data, particularly wallet usage stats, to make an estimate. For example, MetaMask—a popular crypto wallet—reported around 30 million monthly active users in early 2024, with roughly 30% actually completing on-chain transactions in a given day. By applying this ratio, a16z estimated about 9 million active transactors via MetaMask alone each month.
Of course, this is just one wallet. From here, they estimated MetaMask’s total market share on all blockchains to get a fuller picture, aligning closely with the active address data—without over-relying on it.
What’s the Final Estimate?
After all this, a16z arrived at a range: 30 to 60 million real monthly crypto users. It’s a wide gap, but it’s their best estimate based on available data.
For context, this represents only around 14–27% of the 220 million active addresses measured in September and an even smaller portion compared to the estimated 617 million global crypto owners who hold crypto but aren’t necessarily active on-chain.
What This Means for the Future
Here’s the exciting part. If around 600 million people hold crypto today, there’s an enormous opportunity for the industry to turn passive holders into active users. With infrastructure improvements on the horizon, from Layer 2 scaling to more consumer-friendly applications, we could see a wave of new users hitting the blockchain. As more compelling use cases emerge, these dormant crypto owners might become the next wave of engaged users.
The Takeaway
Measuring crypto usage is challenging, but this report gets us closer to understanding the real activity out there. These numbers will evolve as the crypto landscape changes.
And as the methodology is refined, we’ll gain more clarity over time. Curious to learn more about the a16z approach? Dive into the full report to explore the insights.
