Cryptocurrency trading has emerged as a major way to build long-term wealth over recent years, with Bitcoin making many of its earliest adopters overnight millionaires back in 2009 when initial prices soared and trading platforms like Profit Edge Platform seeing a growing number of new sign-ups in the years since then as others seek to emulate their success.
According to a new Crypto Wealth Report released by Henley and Partners, there are now 88,200 crypto millionaires worldwide, with nearly half of those holding their fortunes in the form of market leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.
The leading international wealth and investment migration specialists found that currently, the total market value of cryptocurrency stands at an eye-watering $1.18 billion USD – which is no small feat considering the market is still in its relative infancy when compared to other financial markets.
According to Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley and Partners, crypto miners, traders and investors are exploring new investment migration strategies designed to safeguard their interests as governments hurry to draft new regulations in response to shifts in the world of cryptocurrency.
“We have seen a significant spike in enquiries from crypto millionaires over the past six months, who are all looking to build a viable ‘Plan B’ to protect themselves against any potential future bans on the trading or use of cryptocurrencies in their countries, and to allay the risks of aggressive fiscal policies that tax digital assets at source,” he explains.
The world’s crypto millionaires and billionaires
There are now 182 crypto centi-millionaires in the world – in other words, high-net-worth individuals, or HNWIs – holding more than $100 million USD in crypto. Seventy-eight of these are hard and fast Bitcoin believers. And, of the 22 crypto billionaires across the globe, 22 of these have also built their fortunes through investing in Bitcoin.
One hundred and eighty-two crypto centi-millionaires (namely, high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) with crypto holdings of USD 100 million or more), 78 of whom are Bitcoiners, while six of the world’s 22 crypto billionaires have amassed their fortunes from trading Bitcoin.
Jeff D Opdyke is quoted in the Crypto Wealth Report as having drawn attention to the fact that for crypto, there’s no going back, with these innovative digital assets and the technology that underpins them well and truly here to stay.
He said: “From the moment Bitcoin was born in 2009, crypto was always going to become the most inevitable trade in 30 years. And just like with the early internet hype, there was always going to be a boom and bust. Crypto today, in the wake of a bear market, is a replay of 1999 to 2001 — in other words, a fantastic opportunity to buy when blood stains the streets because we’re not likely to ever see these prices again.”
The leading crypto hubs across the globe
Singapore has a reputation for innovation, so it might come as no surprise to learn that today, it is the world’s top crypto hub. The government there works closely with banks, businesses and the public to develop its national crypto sector, and it certainly shows, with the nation scoring an impressive 83. 75 per cent on Henley and Partners’ Crypto Adoption Index.
In second place, Switzerland scored a healthy 78.17 per cent on the Crypto Adoption Index. Holding a glowing reputation not just for wealth but for security and privacy, its well-established crypto infrastructure has stood it in good stead – while the UAE, Hong Kong and the US were all also found to score highly on the scale and highlighted as additional hubs across the globe.
Also making it into the top ten were Australia, Canada, Malta and Malaysia, all of which have launched initiatives to foster innovation, attract burgeoning blockchain businesses and support investment migration.
Tax-wise, both Singapore and the UAE came out on top, scoring an impressive ten out of ten on the index’s scale. The top-scoring city-state offers zero capital gains taxes, which is of course, an attractive prospect for traders and investors, while the UAE is also tax friendly, with its rates at rock bottom.
