Henley & Partners: "There are only six Bitcoin billionaires in the world"

Even though they are no longer booming, as they were when cryptocurrencies were at the height of their popularity, they remain a preferred form of investment for many people, especially young ones. About 425 million people worldwide have holdings in crypto, whether it's Bitcoin or another digital currency, according to Henley & Partners' Crypto Wealth report, which was released this week by the investment advisory firm, according to CNBC.

On the other hand, according to a survey conducted by Pew Research in April, 75% of Americans are not convinced that investing, trading or using crypto is safe or that they can rely on the tools currently available to use cryptocurrencies. Also, 45% of those surveyed said their investments did not perform as well as they thought, and only 15% said their expectations were exceeded.

But it seems that there are also people who have been successful in the crypto world, who now have holdings worth millions or even billions of US dollars, according to Henley & Partners.

According to the consulting firm's report, 88,200 people have crypto assets of at least one million dollars, less than 1% of the total of those who own such assets, and of these, about 40,500 have investments in Bitcoin. Centimillionaires, that is, those whose crypto holdings are valued at more than $100 billion, were only 182, among which 78 were focused on Bitcoin.

According to Henley & Partners, there are 22 people in the world whose crypto holdings are worth more than a billion dollars, with six of them having investments in Bitcoin - a much smaller proportion than among crypto millionaires or centimillionaires.

At the time of writing the report, the entire crypto market was valued at around $1.18 trillion, according to CNBC.

• Crypto adoption in the world

The consultancy has also developed a crypto adoption index that takes into account a wide range of factors, including the degree of public adoption, the regulatory environment and how crypto is taxed. Elements such as crypto infrastructure adoption, innovation and economic factors of use were also considered.

"The index is designed to show the most attractive investment migration options for crypto holders," Henley & Partners said in a statement published with the report.

Singapore tops the ranking generated by the index, followed by Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. The United States and Great Britain ranked fifth and seventh respectively. Other countries in the top ten include Australia, in sixth place, as well as Canada, Malta and Malaysia, which came in eighth, ninth and tenth.

Singapore and the United Arab Emirates received top scores for being "tax friendly" for crypto investors. The US and UK are far behind in this regard, below the top ten. On the other hand, the degree of adoption and public interest in crypto is high in the two countries, with the United States occupying the third place and the United Kingdom the fourth place in this category (with the United Arab Emirates and Singapore in the top two positions).

The US tops the hierarchy in terms of infrastructure adoption, which takes into account how common crypto ATMs are, the existence of digital asset exchanges and how local banks integrate cryptocurrencies, while the UK tops the tied category of innovation and technology, coform Henley & Partners, writes CNCB.

Investing in cryptocurrencies has become very popular in recent years, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many retail trading apps appeared. On the other hand, regulators and investment advisors warn of the highly volatile nature of crypto, which can quickly lose value, and many countries have yet to regulate the investment and trading of such assets or companies in the crypto space. Therefore, protection is reduced and investors and their money are vulnerable to crises such as the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange last year, the American publication also notes.