Coinbase Protocol Lead Says Crypto Adoption Will Increase by 8 Billion People

Updated: 21 July 2023

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Coinbase Protocols Lead, Jesse Pollak, predicts that crypto adoption will witness rapid growth in the coming decade, envisioning that a significant portion of the global population will transition to on-chain platforms during this period.

During an interview at EthCC in Paris, Pollak expressed his belief in the immense growth potential of the blockchain industry. Presently, there are less than 10 million people using on-chain platforms, but he foresees that this number will surge to a staggering 8 billion over the next decade.

Achieving 8 billion users on-chain would signify a substantial portion of the world’s population, nearly equivalent to Earth’s current estimated population of 8.5 billion by 2030 according to the United Nations. However, it’s important to consider that not all individuals have access to the internet, even though it has become an omnipresent part of the crypto community, with approximately 5 billion internet users worldwide according to data from Statista.

Major Crypto Adoption Well Underway

Pollak confidently stated that crypto adoption on a massive scale is unfolding right before our eyes and will fundamentally transform the lives of billions of people. The technology’s potential lies in its ability to create a level playing field, granting access to the same products and services regardless of one’s place of birth or residence. He emphasized that on-chain services are inherently global, bridging geographical gaps.

Coinbase itself, as the leading U.S. crypto exchange, recorded around 8.4 million monthly transacting users in its first fiscal quarter of the current year, representing a 9% decline from the same period the previous year, according to an SEC filing.

Prominent figures in the digital assets space, be it gamers, Ordinals, or NFT enthusiasts, have long stressed the significance of adoption for the success of the crypto industry. Coinbase has set its sights on bringing 1 billion people into the crypto realm, while Deutsche Bank’s research paper from 2020 suggested that there could be 200 million crypto wallet users by 2030, paralleling the early growth of the internet.

Furthermore, Citi, one of Wall Street’s major banks, believes that mass crypto adoption is rapidly approaching, propelled by the tokenization of real-world assets and the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

As the person in charge of Coinbase’s efforts with Base, the exchange’s Ethereum-focused layer-2 blockchain unveiled in February, Pollak believes that one of the core aspects leading to Coinbase’s expansion to 1 billion users is the utilization of crypto as an app platform.

Pollak elucidated that Coinbase’s strategy with Base, which leverages Optimism’s OP Stack to enhance the cost and efficiency of Ethereum transactions, aims to broaden the range of activities people can conduct on-chain, including art, music, gaming, and various consumer products.