How many people use bitcoin?
💡 Daily Reminder: Stay humble, stack sats
Bitcoiners,
Bitcoin's user base is on track to reach 1 billion people.
Here is a brief history of network adoption since 2009 so you can understand how many people are currently using bitcoin and how long it will be before 1 billion people use the asset.
1 to 1,000
Bitcoin went from 1 user (Satoshi Nakamoto) to over 1,000 in the first 6 months since Bitcoin's genesis block was mined in January 2009.
Word got out about the new experimental monetary technology in the niche cypherpunk community. A few emails lists, websites, and word of mouth helped the network grow to 1,000+ users.
1,000 to 100,000
After reaching 1,000 users in a short period of time, the next 1,000x growth took about 2 years from 2009-2011.
This period included the first bitcoin transaction for a physical good now known as Pizza Day. Slightly after, bitcoin began trading for more than one US dollar, which brought a wave of new users to the network.
100,000 to 1,000,000
After establishing a price in the previous growth phase, the bitcoin market opened up more bringing in 1+ million users in the next 2.5 years.
From 2011-2013, the Bitcoin Foundation was launched by a few leaders to "accelerate the global growth of bitcoin through standardization, protection, and promotion of the open source protocol". Popular US-based exchange, Coinbase, started during this era which brought in a new wave of retail traders.
1,000,000 to 100,000,000
Bitcoin officially reached 100+million users in 2020.
It took about 7 years for the network to grow another 100x users. Arguably, Bitcoin went mainstream during the 2020-2021 bull run, making headlines on every major news channel across the world.
100,000,000 to 1,000,000,000
Bitcoins growth phases seemingly take more and more time to reach completion.
Current estimates puts the Bitcoin user base between 100m-200m people. Considering previous adoption milestones and time it took to get there, it would not surprise me if bitcoin took until the end of this decade to reach 1 billion or more users.
On the contrary, if trust in the fiat monetary system dwindles, I can rationally see bitcoins user base hyper accelerate past 1 billion users during the next bull run by the year 2025.
Happy Saturday,
-Pod
If you find any value in The Bitcoin Letter, please subscribe and tell a friend. By subscribing, you will be sent easy to understand information about Bitcoin along with any relevant news daily. That’s it. IT IS FREE AND I WILL NOT SPAM YOU!
BUY BITCOIN RIGHT NOW
I personally use Swan Bitcoin to purchase Bitcoin! Use the link below to get $10 free dollars worth of Bitcoin. Takes less than 5 minutes to sign up and I get a small commission :)
Eric Podwojski
Founder, Bitcoin EDU
Twitter: @epodrulz
Disclaimer: This should go without saying: This is not financial advice. This is not investment advice. I write this newsletter for education and entertainment. Act accordingly.
