This is consistent with what many crypto enthusiasts and key industry players have been predicting. There is a general consensus that the next decade is going to bring with it, significant growth in crypto developments and effectively, adoption of the tech's solutions by the mainstream.
The cryptocurrency industry may be just one cycle away from reaching full-scale mainstream adoption, making digital assets a globally accepted alternative payment means, according to industry insiders.
There were an estimated 659 million cryptocurrency holders at the end of 2025, according to a December research report from centralized exchange Crypto.com.
However, continuing cryptocurrency adoption may see the industry surpass 5 billion users within the next decade, according to Thomas Prévot, head of operations in France at Crypto.com.
“Within 10 years, we’ll reach 5 billion users,” said Prévot during a panel discussion at Waib Summit 2025 in Monaco, adding:
“We’re about one growth cycle away from full mainstream adoption. I'm not talking about 1 billion users. I'm talking about 5 billion users.” - Cointelegraph report
Some may call it a bold statement that the crypto ecosystem will grow 7.6x in users over the decade, effectively becoming a part of the every day person's life but a lot more than that can happen.
With $169 billion in assets under management (AUM), institutions currently hold control of assets making up 4.5% of the crypto market's valuation, through crypto ETFs.
In addition to this, many banks across the US and globally are exploring various crypto integrations, and prominent financial technology companies like Stripe are also positioning to embrace the tech.
All of which points to the fact that mass adoption is a close reality.
Looking at Stripe alone, this is a company that serves over 4.5 million websites. If the average annual transactions of each website is 100, that brings the potential end-user or consumer exposure count to over 450 million.
The data supports the notion that crypto is going mainstream!
It is the better financial technology and it comes with fresh opportunities for value generation.
Whilst 5 billion users can feel like a stretch in expectations, it is rather realistic when we consider that the current state of the market promotes developments across the industry, luring in numerous traditional players.
It only becomes a matter of time before the masses gets exposed to crypto and blockchain tech for moving money around. The next decade is going to see crypto move from being a lowly-supported medium of payments to becoming the preferred.
The incentives line up pretty good for crypto to become a default across the business world.
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Thank you for reading!