The number of people owning cryptocurrency assets worth $1 million or more has nearly doubled in a year, thanks to the strong increase in the price of this currency over the past time.
The Crypto Wealth Report 2024, recently released by the consulting firm Henley & Partners (UK), shows that by the end of June 2024, there were 172,300 people globally owning cryptocurrency assets worth at least $1 million. This number increased by 95% compared to the same period last year. Bitcoin alone contributed to 85,400 millionaires, an increase of 111%.
The number of people with cryptocurrency assets worth $100 million or more also increased by 79%, to 325 people. The number of global cryptocurrency billionaires also increased, to 28 people, of which 11 were from Bitcoin. The total value of global cryptocurrency assets increased by 89% compared to last year, to $2,300 billion.
“The crypto market in 2024 will be different from previous years. The long-awaited approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has unleashed capital flows from institutional investors,” Dominic Volek, head of private clients at Henley & Partners, said in the report.
Over the past year, Bitcoin’s price has more than doubled, currently trading around $59,000 per coin. Earlier this year, the price hit a record $73,000, thanks to capital flowing into Bitcoin ETFs in the US.
“Of the six new crypto billionaires last year, five got rich thanks to Bitcoin. This further demonstrates the dominance of the world’s largest cryptocurrency with long-term investors,” Andrew Amoils, director of research at asset tracker New World Wealth, said in the Henley & Partners report.
Volek now predicts that the Solana ETFs will be approved by US regulators, “signing a new era of cryptocurrency adoption and integration into traditional finance.”
In the report, Henley & Partners also released the Crypto Adoption Index – a ranking of economies based on their level of cryptocurrency friendliness. Accordingly, the top 5 positions belong to Singapore, Hong Kong (China), UAE, US and UK.