Managing expectations about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies
While it's easy to get caught up in the hype of the cryptocurrency community, there is still a ways to go before cryptocurrency sees mass adoption around the world.
Bitcoin hit the historic $6k milestone today, valuing at a market cap of $100 billion. For cryptocurrency enthusiasts, especially anyone holding Bitcoin, this is massive news for a variety of reasons.
But it also got me thinking: How many people own Bitcoin? How popular are cryptocurrencies? When I go online, I'm confronted with ads for exchanges, I read articles about cryptocurrency, and I'm generally tapped into the conversation. But I can probably count on one hand the number of people I know offline in my immediate social circle that own Bitcoin or any alt-coins.
According to Internet traffic metrics estimated by Quantcast, Coinbase, for example, has an estimated 1 million unique U.S. visitors a month, or 0.31 percent of the U.S. population. This is just a portion of the traffic, since cryptocurrency is a global marketplace, but it is one of the most popular exchanges in the U.S. right now.
By comparison, Poloniex has an estimated 300 thousand unique U.S. visitors a month, or 0.093 percent of the U.S. population.
CoinMarketCap, a popular destination for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, to use another metric, reaches over 400 thousand unique monthly visitors in the U.S., or 0.12 percent of the U.S. population.
Steemit.com also has a similar reach in the U.S.
When we look at Google trends to gauge worlwide search interest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, it's clearly on an upward trajectory.
The hottest regions for Google searches of Bitcoin are Nigeria, China, Ghana, Slovenia, and Bolivia.
Needless to say, there is a lot to be excited about, but it's good to remind ourselves that we still have ways to go.
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Thank you for reading,
- Josh
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