Only 4% of the global population currently holds Bitcoin (BTC), with the highest concentration of ownership in the United States, where an estimated 14% of individuals own BTC. According to a research report from River, a BTC financial services company, North America remains the continent with the highest adoption rate among individuals and institutions, while Africa is currently the lowest at only 1.6%. Overall, BTC adoption tended to be higher in more developed regions than in developing regions. River estimates that BTC has only achieved 3% of its maximum adoption potential — signaling that the digital currency is still in the early stages of global adoption.
The financial services company arrived at the 3% figure by calculating Bitcoin’s total addressable market, which includes governments, corporations, and institutions — at only 1%. River also took institutional underallocation and individual ownership rates into account to arrive at the 3% metric. Although Bitcoin has come a long way since its early cypherpunk days, recently becoming a US government reserve asset, several hurdles stand in the way of Bitcoin mass adoption on a global scale.
What’s stopping mass adoption? Bitcoin stands at the intersection of technology and finance — two topics that are dense enough on their own, let alone together. The biggest problem facing Bitcoin’s mass adoption is a lack of financial and technical education, which fuels misconceptions about BTC — including the idea that it is a scam or a Ponzi scheme. Digital assets are also notorious for their high volatility — a friend of the short-term trader but the enemy of anyone using BTC as a medium of exchange or a store of value.
High volatility disproportionately affects residents in developing economies, who have turned to US dollar stablecoins as a digital store of value due to their low transaction fees and relative stability compared to other cryptocurrencies. During the recent White House Crypto Summit on March 7, United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the US will use stablecoins to ensure US dollar hegemony and protect its status as the global reserve currency.