Bitcoin market continues to go 'crazy', analysts predict active users will reach 200 million in 2024

Given the recent rapid development of Bitcoin, analysts predict that the number of Bitcoin users will reach 200 million within the next seven years, that is, by 2024.

Number of Bitcoin users

In March this year, a research report released by Garrick Hileman and Dr. Michel Rauchs of the University of Cambridge revealed that the number of active users of Bitcoin wallets is between 2.9 million and 5.8 million.

However, since then, as the market value and price of Bitcoin have continued to grow, the cryptocurrency's user base has also expanded rapidly. Coinbase, the largest Bitcoin broker and wallet platform in the global market, alone has more than 1.3 million active users. In November, the platform added 1.2 million new users.

Large regional bitcoin exchanges such as Japan's Bitflyer and South Korea's Bithumb also have close to 1 million users.

If hot wallets or Bitcoin addresses on Bitcoin exchanges are included, the number of Bitcoin users may have exceeded 10 million.

Reasons why Bitcoin is going mainstream

With 200 million active users, Bitcoin will enter the mainstream market, and a large number of investors and ordinary consumers will accept Bitcoin as a stable store of value and digital currency.

In the middle of the month, the launch of Bitcoin futures on CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) and CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) will increase the popularity of Bitcoin in the traditional financial market. Large institutional investors, retail investors, hedge funds and investment companies will all pay attention to this cryptocurrency. As tens of billions of institutional funds will enter the Bitcoin market, ordinary consumers and investors will follow their footsteps, eventually producing a domino effect.

Then, more and more financial institutions, financial service providers and financial technology platforms will begin to provide services related to Bitcoin, which will help improve the availability and circulation of Bitcoin. In November this year, the financial technology application Square has integrated Bitcoin, allowing users to store and buy and sell Bitcoin.

Shinhan Bank, a large commercial bank in South Korea that is influential in the local financial industry, has also begun testing its Bitcoin custody and wallet platform.

Shinhan Bank is testing a virtual bitcoin vault platform to manage and issue private keys to bitcoin addresses and wallets. The bank plans to provide free custody services and only charge a portion of the withdrawal fee.

Finally, as Bitcoin becomes the world’s top store of value, more and more active users will begin to use this cryptocurrency as an everyday currency and alternative to fiat currency.

However, for users who view Bitcoin as a fiat currency alternative, the potential scalability issues of the Bitcoin blockchain network must be addressed. In the long term, second-layer architectures such as the Lightning Network will allow Bitcoin users and businesses to process micropayments or transactions with lower fees and settle payments for goods and services.

Once Bitcoin service providers and exchanges integrate the Lightning Network and other second-layer expansion solutions, more and more users will be able to use Bitcoin to settle various payments. Small payments can be settled through Lightning Network channels, and large payments can be made through on-chain transactions, and the transaction fees will also be relatively high.