There is no exact count of crypto wallets -- but the best available data shows roughly 220 million crypto wallet addresses were active each month as of late 2024, while only an estimated 30 to 60 million of those represent real people. Meanwhile, about 741 million people owned cryptocurrency worldwide as of 2025, according to address data from a16z and the annual ownership report from Crypto.com.

That three-way gap -- active addresses, real users, and total owners -- is the single most important thing to understand about wallet statistics, and it is why you will see wildly different "number of wallets" figures cited. A wallet is an address or account, not a human. Below are the numbers that are actually verifiable, why they diverge so much, and what a wallet count can and cannot tell you. We have deliberately avoided the inflated "total wallets ever created" figures that circulate on aggregator sites, because they count dormant and duplicate addresses that no longer map to anyone.

The cleanest signal is monthly active addresses -- wallets that actually transacted -- rather than cumulative accounts created, most of which sit dormant forever.

Notice the spread. There were about 220 million active addresses in September 2024, but a16z estimates only 30 to 60 million of those are real people -- the rest are the same individuals holding several wallets, plus bots, sybil accounts, and smart contracts. And 741 million people say they own crypto, but only a fraction are active in any given month. The honest answer to "how many crypto wallets are there" is: hundreds of millions of addresses exist, but they collapse down to tens of millions of actual active humans.

This is the methodology point most sources skip, and it is the whole story. a16z's own analysis found that the 220 million monthly active addresses translate to real transacting users at a rate of only about 14% to 27% once you strip out bots and sybil (duplicate) accounts, according to a16z. Three forces drive the wedge between wallet numbers and people:

1. One person, many wallets. A typical active user holds an exchange account, a browser wallet like MetaMask, a mobile wallet, and often a hardware wallet -- four wallets, one human.
2. Bots, sybils, and contracts. A large share of on-chain addresses belong to trading bots, airdrop farmers running many wallets, exchanges, and smart contracts -- not individuals.
3. Dormant and dust addresses. Millions of addresses were created once and abandoned, or hold negligible "dust." They inflate cumulative counts but represent no active owner.

The practical takeaway: when a source claims "X hundred million wallets," it is almost always counting accounts, not people. Anchor on the two figures with real methodology behind them -- a16z's 30-60 million active users and Crypto.com's 741 million owners.

While active-wallet counts are noisy, self-reported ownership has climbed steadily. Crypto.com's ownership series is the most-cited, and it shows double-digit annual growth.

By coin, Bitcoin owners grew to 365 million in 2025 (up 8.3% from 337 million), and Ethereum owners rose to 175 million (up 22.6% from 142 million), per Crypto.com. For the deeper breakdown, see our reports on how many people own crypto and how many people own Bitcoin.

Wallets fall into two broad categories, and the distinction shapes both the statistics and your security.

• Custodial wallets are held on your behalf by an exchange or provider (Coinbase, Binance, Crypto.com), which controls the private keys. These are the easiest to use and where most beginners start. Large exchanges each custody tens of millions of user accounts, which is why exchange wallets dominate the raw owner count.
• Non-custodial wallets (self-custody) put you in sole control of your keys -- MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Phantom, and hardware wallets like Ledger. "Not your keys, not your coins" refers to this trade-off.

Because a single person routinely holds both a custodial exchange account and one or more self-custody wallets, the categories overlap heavily -- another reason total wallet counts run ahead of the number of owners.

A handful of consumer wallets account for most self-custody activity, but their reported figures mix cumulative downloads with active users, so treat them as scale indicators, not precise headcounts.

• MetaMask reported around 30 million monthly active users as of February 2024, per a16z -- the most rigorously cited active-user figure for any self-custody wallet.
• Trust Wallet, Phantom, and Coinbase Wallet each report tens to hundreds of millions of cumulative users, but these self-reported totals blend downloads with active accounts. Phantom is the dominant wallet in the Solana ecosystem specifically.

Tellingly, if you add up the self-reported user totals of the major wallets, they already exceed the number of real crypto owners -- direct evidence of the same person appearing in several wallets at once. If you hold SOL, our how many people own Solana report breaks that ecosystem down further.

There is no authoritative total, because most "wallet" counts measure addresses, not people. The most rigorous available figures show roughly 220 million crypto addresses were active monthly as of September 2024, of which only an estimated 30-60 million represent real people, per a16z. Separately, about 741 million people report owning crypto, according to Crypto.com.

No. A wallet is an account or address; an owner is a person. One person commonly controls several wallets -- an exchange account, a browser extension wallet, and a hardware wallet -- so the number of wallets always exceeds the number of owners. a16z found active-address counts overstate real users by roughly 4-7x once bots and duplicates are removed.

About 741 million people owned cryptocurrency in 2025, up 12.4% from 659 million in 2024, according to the Crypto.com global ownership report -- roughly 8-9% of the world's population. Ownership has grown by double digits every year recently.

By verified active users, MetaMask is the largest self-custody wallet, with around 30 million monthly active users as of early 2024, per a16z. Trust Wallet, Phantom (the leading Solana wallet), and Coinbase Wallet also serve tens of millions each, though their self-reported totals mix downloads with active use. Custodial exchange wallets from Coinbase and Binance each hold tens of millions of accounts.

Roughly 220 million addresses were active monthly as of September 2024, per a16z -- but that figure counts addresses, not people. After filtering bots and duplicate wallets, a16z estimates only 30-60 million real people are active in a typical month.

Because they measure different things: cumulative addresses ever created, monthly active addresses, self-reported wallet-app downloads, or real people. Cumulative counts run into the hundreds of millions or more but include dormant, duplicate, and bot addresses; real-user estimates are an order of magnitude smaller. Always check which definition a "number of wallets" stat is using.

Having a wallet is one thing; spending what is in it is another -- and that gap is exactly where most crypto sits idle. In our experience building a card, the friction is rarely holding crypto; it is turning a balance into a coffee or a subscription without a multi-day exchange withdrawal. A crypto debit card closes that gap by converting your wallet balance to fiat at the point of sale, so you can spend anywhere Visa and Mastercard are accepted.

SolCard does this for Solana-based balances: deposit SOL, USDC, or USDT straight from your wallet and spend it in the real world, with a virtual card issued in about 18 seconds. Because settlement runs on Solana rails, top-ups clear in seconds and cost a fraction of a cent -- practical for everyday spending in a way that a wallet full of tokens is not. If you are new to the idea, start with how to pay with crypto. The number of wallets keeps climbing every year -- and more of them are being used to spend, not just hold.

• a16z crypto -- Estimating the Number of Real Crypto Users
• Crypto.com -- Global Cryptocurrency Ownership Reaches 741 Million in 2025