Crypto has minted tens of thousands of new millionaires, but they're still only 0.02% of everyone who's ever bought digital currency, a new wealth report says (2024)

In total, at least 182 of crypto users have holdings of $100 million or more in cryptocurrencies, and 22 users own at least $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies each, according to Henley & Partners, which worked with South African wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth to collect its data.

The 88,200-strong crypto-millionaire crowd makes up only a small fraction of the world's total number of millionaires, of which there are more than 20 million, Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth, told Insider.

But the world's wealthy crypto users are starting to outnumber the number of high-net-worth individuals in entire countries, such as Russia,which has 65,000 millionaires, and Saudi Arabia, which has 52,000 millionaires, per Amoils' estimate.

Most of these crypto-millionaires came into money because of their crypto investments, Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners, told Insider.

"Most of that would be new money that's sort of adopted in the last decade," said Volek, though he added that cryptocurrency is becoming more popular among his firm's overall clientele.

Many amateur investors also grew their money in cryptocurrencies because access to digital assets has improved through new apps and exchanges, Volek added. The crypto exchange Binance, for example, said in August that it has over 150 million users, despite facing regulatory restrictions around the world.

"Five years ago, if I wanted to invest in cryptocurrency, it was too scary. You need wallets and vaults and different exchanges, and which one do I use?" Volek said. "Nowadays, things have gotten a lot more controlled, and it's a lot safer to invest."

Still, Volek said his firm — which offers migration services to the wealthy — has seen some crypto-millionaire clients lose much of their wealth amid a volatile digital market.

He recalled several young men who attained $20 million or so from trading crypto, but could no longer continue with Henley & Partners' programs after the March 2022 Bitcoin crash.

"It would affect them so much that they would say: 'Hang on,' or they would withdraw from applying because all of a sudden they didn't have that liquidity anymore, or weren't comfortable with participating in one of these programs," he said.