[2019-10-26] Crypto Owners in US Have Risen 81% YTD

[bryant.coleman]

14.4% of Americans seems awfully high to me. I wouldn't be surprised if the results are skewed because the respondents weren't representative of the population. Some demographics will definitely have a higher propensity to use Bitcoin -- Millennials, internet users, etc.

A lot of people might have created Bitcoin wallets for fun (it takes just a few seconds). But these wallets are all empty, with no transaction ever occurring with them. I am afraid that the survey might have counted these wallets as well. If you ask me, I would say that 14.4% looks possible within the 15-29 age group, but not among the general population. Ideally, we should only count those individuals who hold more than BTC0.001 in their wallets, or those who at some point of time had that much BTC in their wallets.

[1Referee]

A lot of people might have created Bitcoin wallets for fun (it takes just a few seconds). But these wallets are all empty, with no transaction ever occurring with them. I am afraid that the survey might have counted these wallets as well.

Most wallets do that automatically for convenience purposes. I however don't for a second think that they counted empty addresses because it's meaningless on its own as anyone can generate addresses out of thin air at any time. It would allow whales to easily manipulate the stats as it is practically free of any cost.

In these examples of "adoption", they count the addresses with an actual balance in them, and when the charts indicate growth, they directly assume it is related to more adoption, but that doesn't have to be the case at all. It's something surveys did years ago and still do it today. They are clueless when it comes to storage distribution, change addresses, etc.

[audaciousbeing]

Many countries are starting to understand the importance of Bitcoin and its blockchain technology. The U.S. is not necessarily one of them. However, the number of Americans holding the cryptocurrency is increasing.

https://bitcoinist.com/crypto-owners-in-us-have-risen-81-ytd/

Its great to read this kind of news although holding might not necessarily mean much in terms of its effect on the market as we haven't seen much to run with but really it shows the level of confidence increasing and going beyond the report from the United States, I have seen increase in the people now interested in crypto even in my own immediate community as colleagues are much more interested than ever. I think the narrative is gradually changing especially the part that relates to crypto being ascribed to a pyramid scheme that would soon fail or crash and the price which it has been hovering is not enough to attract the attention of people who are only interested in the crash of the market put this together has been giving room for gradual development of the market.

[Carlton Banks]

A lot of people might have created Bitcoin wallets for fun (it takes just a few seconds). But these wallets are all empty, with no transaction ever occurring with them. I am afraid that the survey might have counted these wallets as well.

Most wallets do that automatically for convenience purposes. I however don't for a second think that they counted empty addresses because it's meaningless on its own as anyone can generate addresses out of thin air at any time.

there is no possible method for counting unused addresses anyway.

unless the address is used, it doesn't appear in the blockchain. the only way unused wallets could be miscounted like that would be if a webwallet did so, but you'd be unwise to believe any such unverifiable claims made by webwallet sites, they're pretty heavy on the "marketing rhetoric" (i.e. bs), as you would expect

[error08]

What is completely wrong is the number, 35 million or one in every 7 Americans.

That would mean that 4 of your colleagues in school or high school would hold crypto, each family would have at least one member holding crypto, in every bar you enter there would be at least 2-3 holders...
Neh, it's impossible.

2,3 even 4% yeah, 14%, simply no!

Indeed, 36.5 million is simply impossible currently. 2,068 participants did not represent the actual 36,5 million, thus it's not even close to accurate.
I'm more curious about how did they survey the number of bitcoin adopters, it's better for them to check every exchange in the U.S.  although many people keep their bitcoins in private wallet.

[chaoscoinz]

Many countries are starting to understand the importance of Bitcoin and its blockchain technology. The U.S. is not necessarily one of them. However, the number of Americans holding the cryptocurrency is increasing.

https://bitcoinist.com/crypto-owners-in-us-have-risen-81-ytd/

   I think that it is good that cryptocurrencies are starting to gain some recognition but with the case of the U.S, their word is usually the final.
  Right now Zuckerberg is being put through the ringer with investors ready to pull out completely from Libra, which may aid heavily in cryptocurrency adoption.
  I also think that the institutional investors like the idea of having Blockchain technology better than the idea of having a whole cryptocurrency built around one. The transparent public ledger is all the fuss these days, but the token attached to it is stigmatized.

[buwaytress]

Apart from the fact that it's just so easy yet hardly appropriate to use a blanket term these days, I don't know why anyone's surprised there are more US owners of Bitcoin every year (I'm not ignoring the title says crypto but if you own crypto I don't believe you don't own Bitcoin first).

I'd be really interested to know though if this translates to more people buying and investing (and thinking they own Bitcoin), or if actual people are learning to control their own private keys with sole access to that precious bitcoin.

[figmentofmyass]

Also, what type of owners are they? Real users that use their bitcoins as currency or are they only speculating that the price will increase next year and sell to hold fiat?

those are both "real" users. bitcoin is a form of money, not simply a payment rail---savers are just as legitimate as spenders in this economic model.

if bitcoin's network was limited only to those who frequently spend, it would be worth exponentially less than now. by the same token, if no one ever spent bitcoin at all, they would be worthless since the network relies on transaction liquidity.

this is yin and yang. no need to hate the speculators.......

[1Referee]

there is no possible method for counting unused addresses anyway.

unless the address is used, it doesn't appear in the blockchain.

Good point. That invalidates his claim right away.

the only way unused wallets could be miscounted like that would be if a webwallet did so, but you'd be unwise to believe any such unverifiable claims made by webwallet sites, they're pretty heavy on the "marketing rhetoric" (i.e. bs), as you would expect

That reminds me of how exchanges and other services boasted about how many account registrations they had in the last x number of months. One can register an account on even the most compliant exchange, but without verification the account itself is pretty useless. It's a metric that can be manipulated easily, either unpurposely or purposely.

[Carlton Banks]

That reminds me of how exchanges and other services boasted about how many account registrations they had in the last x number of months.

...and that reminds me of that Well Fargo scandal a couple years ago where they got caught signing up 1000's of clients for accounts they (WF) used to perform their own transactions, without the clients knowledge (let alone applying for )

savers are just as legitimate as spenders in this economic model.

or in any economic model

the fact is, I and other BTC holders are not just speculating on Bitcoin's future, we're speculating on the USD's future too, USD holders are doing the same thing the other way around. We're looking at the world and predicting a changed future, dollar holders are predicting the future will be similar to the recent past. Both are speculative, as no-one knows what the outcome will be. Maybe both will last forever, maybe they'll both be outrun by some other currency.

[stompix]

A lot of people might have created Bitcoin wallets for fun (it takes just a few seconds). But these wallets are all empty, with no transaction ever occurring with them. I am afraid that the survey might have counted these wallets as well.

Most wallets do that automatically for convenience purposes. I however don't for a second think that they counted empty addresses because it's meaningless on its own as anyone can generate addresses out of thin air at any time. It would allow whales to easily manipulate the stats as it is practically free of any cost.

He was probably referring to web-based wallets, as blockchain dot info has.

At which point we again have some really weird statistics:
They claim to have 42 million wallets but we only have 26 million addresses with a balance on the entire chain.
Even if we consider the stupid trend of storing your coins online it's pretty obvious most of those wallets have never been used.

Neah that 14% is simply wrong, we wouldn't be hovering around 10k at that usage and we wouldn't have 300k transactions a day with fees at 1sat/b getting confirmed.

[BitHodler]

it's better for them to check every exchange in the U.S.  although many people keep their bitcoins in private wallet.

Most of the people using an exchange never actually withdraw their coins to their own wallet.... the only transfer taking place is exchange to exchange where they trade crypto back and forth until it's time to sell.

It would be a better idea to ask an exchange to be specific about unique users who actually made a fiat deposit to buy Bitcoin. Creating an account can be done by people that were here for years already but want to cash out now.