London, UK – An analysis of cryptocurrency trading app download trends on the Google Play Store by app growth solutions company SplitMetrics suggests that the cryptocurrency sector has recovered after a challenging year in 2023 .
According to the study, which analyzed data from SplitMetrics' App Radar platform, the European cryptocurrency sector has grown by 94% with 1.6 million cryptocurrency trading applications downloaded in the first quarter of 2024. By contrast, in In the first quarter of 2023, there were only 814,000 downloads. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the number of Android downloads also increased by 35%.
At current download rates, European crypto apps appear to be approaching the high mark set in 2022, when 7.2 million new users started crypto apps.
Outside of Europe, top crypto apps saw a 41% increase in Android downloads in Q1 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, and a 28% increase compared to Q4 2023.
These are signs of growth for 2024 as the crypto sector is recovering from the lows of 2023. While the European crypto sector gained 3.8 million Android users in 2023, it was a 48% decrease compared to the 7.2 million in 2022. Apps based outside Europe fared slightly better, declining 14% from 96 million to 83 million.
Collectively, crypto apps have reached almost 500 million lifetime downloads (449 million). While the sector saw a 16% decline in Android app downloads in 2023 (from 104 million in 2022 to 87 million in 2023), the global crypto industry is showing signs of promising growth with a 43% increase in the first quarter of 2024 (30 million) compared to the first quarter of 2023 (21 million). and an increase of 28% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 (24 million).
The top five European-based apps in the first quarter of 2024 were: Luno (568,000), Nexo (525,000), Blockchain.com (218,000), Bitpanda (104,000) and Wirex (96,000).
The top five apps based outside of Europe were: Binance (9.3 million), Cash App (4.2 million), Trust (3.3 million), Bybit (2.6 million) and OKX (2 million).
In terms of lifetime downloads, the top apps with cryptocurrency trading functionality are: Binance (111 million), Cash App (102 million), Trust (47 million), Coinbase (NASDAQ:) (43 million), and Crypto. com (38 million).
Thomas Kriebernegg, CEO of agency SplitMetrics, said: “Cryptocurrencies are back in a big way this year. The European crypto app market had a particularly challenging 2023 as it came off pandemic highs and significant drops in the price of. With Bitcoin halving coming in April 2024, the crypto space will most likely gain a lot of traction throughout the year and by looking at the download numbers we can already get an idea of what could be happening this year.
“It is worth noting that there is a clear correlation between increases in the price of major cryptocurrencies and download figures. Clearly people don't want to miss out on the crypto gold rush. The question for the industry is whether it can mature to the point where user growth figures are not as influenced by price fluctuations; Simply put, can growth be sustained more consistently?
“Globally, cryptocurrency traders on Android will surpass the 500 million mark this year, which is a notable milestone. Looking ahead, user acquisition will inevitably become more competitive and expensive. Platforms will need to diversify their user bases and this means evolving and investing in their marketing to reach new audiences.”
