Cambridge University Report Shows a 100% Growth in the Number of Crypto Users This Year

While that the crypto market has caused severe pains to its investors, the participation of the crypto users in the market has nearly doubled shows the latest report from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Published on Wednesday, December 12, the report shows that 17 million "verified users" were added to the cryptocurrency market this year.

The Cambridge report provides insight into a number of sectors within the crypto industry like the mining industry, ICOs, regulations, etc. The study shows that within the first three quarters of 2018, the total number of ID-verified users in the crypto markets have doubled rising from 18 million to 35 million.

It notes:

"Total user accounts at service providers now exceed 139 million with at least 35 million identity-verified users, the latter growing nearly 4X in 2017 and doubling again in the first three quarters of 2018."

Furthermore, the Bloomberg analysis notes that this could actually indicate the possible recovery of the crypto market. It notes: "The figures may provide a silver lining. If user numbers continue to increase even in a deep market downturn, that could signal that an eventual recovery could be coming -- a crucial finding at a time when some critics predict that the value of cryptocurrencies will go down to zero."

Additionally, the Cambridge study notes that according to the data, "the majority of users — both established as well as new entrants — are individuals and not business clients." The document states that these individuals can be "consumers, retail investors, or users looking for better investments and payment alternatives".

Several Sectors Expanding Within the Crypto Industry

Below is a quick synopsis of the expanding sectors within the global crypto sphere.

1. Multi-Coin support by different crypto-service providers has almost doubled from 47% in 2017 to 84% in 2018. The establishment of common standards like ERC20 on Ethereum has contributed to this surge resulting into a huge supply of tokens, airdrops, and forks.
2. The cryptocurrency mining industry is less concentrated as perceived otherwise. The hash power ownership and mining tool manufacturers are spread across different geographical locations across the globe.
3. Considering the electricity requirements of the crypto mining processes, the majority of the big mining companies use renewable energy as part of their energy mix.
4. The crypto industry is maturing through several self-regulatory efforts being initiated. It notes: "Industry actors are pro-actively adopting measures that appear to comply with existing regulation despite not necessarily being explicitly subject to regulations. The increasing number of self-regulatory initiatives, combined with the emergence of sophisticated and professional services, reflect the growing maturity of the industry."