Raoul Pal, Founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor and Real Vision, has predicted that the total number of cryptocurrency users could reach 4 billion by 2030. His prediction underscores the growing acceptance and integration of digital currencies into everyday life.
In a Sunday X post, Pal shared a chart that showed crypto adoption was growing twice as fast as the internet, projecting 4 billion users by 2030. He analyzed crypto wallets against IP addresses to measure growth. According to Pal, the crypto user base has expanded at a rate of 137% annually over nine years, reaching 659 million users by the end of 2024. By contrast, internet users totaled 187 million by the end of 2000, with a 76% annual growth rate.
Pal shared that he anticipates a moderated 43% growth rate next year, leading to about 1 billion users by 2025 end, which is one-eighth of the global population. Further, he also stated that crypto’s market capitalization could exceed $100 trillion within the next decade, potentially by 2032. “And that is driven by the two secular trends—adoption and debasement. Debasement explains 90% of price action (adoption explains 100% of outperformance vs debasement),” he added.
However, Pal expressed concern that some individuals are excessively preoccupied with the possibility of September being a negative month for Bitcoin’s price. According to him, this indicates a narrow, short-term way of thinking, and that this mindset is limiting.
In the same X thread, he also showed a chart comparing Bitcoin’s price growth from mid-2017 to early 2018, a period of a major bull run, with its current growth trend. The chart highlighted Bitcoin’s price rising from around $1,400 in April 2017 to over $19,000 by December 2017, and reaching up to $240,000 by December 2025.
Responses to Pal’s X post, however, questioned his estimates. One user, @attackonbitcoin, argued that wallets do not reliably indicate growth, while another, @thejusticefagan, noted that a crypto project founder could create thousands of wallets to simulate community activity.
A third user, @pravijn, mentioned creating a new wallet every six months for four years. Pal countered that individuals also hold multiple IP addresses.
Predictions from Crypto Experts on the Growth of Users
With growing adoption, Pal isn’t the only one making bold or speculative predictions. In May 2025, speaking at the Bitcoin conference 2025, U.S. Vice President JD Vance also stated that over 50 million Americans own Bitcoin, and he believes that hundreds of millions more will soon own it.
Further, an October 2024 report from Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto division estimated 30 million to 60 million active monthly users. Similarly, in April 2024, a well-known on-chain analyst, Willy Woo, predicted in his X post that the crypto industry could reach its first 1 billion users by the end of 2025.
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