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The number of people owning cryptocurrencies is increasing, which stimulates investments and developments in the cryptocurrency wallet market.
In fact, data collected by Statista shows that downloads of the 10 most popular wallet apps began to skyrocket in December 2020. Meanwhile, as of December 2021, the number of downloads of Blockchain.com e-wallet software increased to more than 80 million worldwide.
It can be seen that as more people own and use cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency wallets are also used more. This is a trend that many participants in this market predict will continue in 2022. Not only that, players in the market predict that many wallets will expand the services they offer. Moreover, when the number of long-term investors is greater, the development trend will be more beneficial for the cold wallet.
Number of crypto Owners Increases Proportionality with Cryptocurrency Wallet Users
In June 2021, Ledger reported that it had sold 3 million Nano S and Nano X devices, and the company raised $380 million in a Series C funding round.
This figure shows that the demand of users for cold wallets continues to increase in the context of more and more people entering the cryptocurrency market, and with industry macro figures, the trend of buying/selling cold wallets or downloading wallet apps is expected to continue to increase.
According to David Janczewski, CEO of crypto security and insurance company Coincover: "Crypto wallet holders are definitely proportional to crypto holders in 2021. We estimate that this growth is at a rate of about 1.2 to 2 times, as many owners have more than one wallet or account."
Janczewski also noticed that his company is seeing more and more people investing using their wallets. He also predicts that this will continue in 2022.
Other commentators have also made predictions about the same trend. "The number of addresses with positive bitcoin balances has skyrocketed since last year and reached 38 million. This also created a corresponding spike in e-wallet usage and new wallet users. Many speculators and investors often use a form of depository wallet to allow for more control over speculative choices. But they also rely on non-custodial wallets to branch out and develop alternative currencies or take advantage of DeFi applications," said Adam Lowe, Creative Director of Cold Wallet Maker Arculus.
Cold Wallet and Hot Wallet
Lowe also predicts that non-custodial wallets will continue to be more popular than those that are depository wallets. This is due to "increased data leakage, and financial institutions and banks and individuals who own digital assets will accumulate more knowledge to fully control their investments."
Other e-wallet manufacturers also reported strong growth in 2021, they also forecast that this will continue in 2022 and beyond.
This is also what was reported in the Cryptonews.com by Josef Tětek, Ambassador of Trezor. He stated that 2021 was one of the most successful years in Trezor's history.
"With the launch of the Trezor Suite, using cold wallets becomes more accessible, and we see more and more interest in Trezor devices with the ecosystem that comes with it. We don't have specific numbers, but a portion of bitcoin/crypto users understand the need to keep their coins in a decentralized market," he added.
Tětek acknowledges that most speculators will continue to use hot wallets or exchanges, which he says is perfectly normal in a rapidly rising market. However, he doesn't think this will change in the coming months.
New Features, New Services
One thing that manufacturers of hot wallets and cold wallets agree on is that every type of crypto wallet will constantly add many new features this year.
Security and privacy are a frequent topic when it comes to people working in the e-wallet industry. Josef Tětek also revealed that Trezor is implementing the coinjoin service anonymously on the interface of the Trezor Suite.
"It will bring many major security improvements to Trezor users if they choose to use this new feature. At the same time, the new capability that allows to connect to a full user node will be a big step towards the supremacy of the user," he said.
Arculus' Adam Lowe also said that security is a prominent trend for e-wallets and custody solutions this year as institutional investors continue to enter the market.
Price, Growth and New People
2022 is expected to bring new players in the e-wallet market. Square has also announced plans to launch its own cold e-wallet in July 2021.
"We are also curious about Jack Dorsey's new e-wallet initiative and we are ready to cooperate if necessary," josef Tětek said.
Having more manufacturers entering the market will benefit users as they can benefit from increasing price competition.
And with new manufacturers entering the market at the same competitive price, the continued growth of crypto will also boost the e-wallet market further.
According to Lowe's conclusion: "A small fraction of crypto-proficient users will become dominant as major retailers start accepting cryptocurrencies, people's wages can be paid through crypto, and traditional banks start integrating cryptocurrencies."
