Cryptocurrency Market by Offering (Hardware: GPU, FPGA, ASIC, Storage & Wallet; and Software), Process (Mining and Transaction), Type, End User (Peer–to-Peer Payment, Remittance, E-Commerce, and Retail), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023

The cryptocurrency market was valued at USD 284.0 million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD 2,902.0 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 32.31% during the forecast period. The base year considered for the study is 2016, and the forecast for the market size has been provided for the period between 2017 and 2023.

Objective of the Study:

• To define and describe, the cryptocurrency market on the basis of offering, process, type, end user, and geography
• To forecast the market size of the various segments with respect to 4 main regions: North America, Europe, APAC, and Rest of the World
• To provide detailed information regarding the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)
• To strategically analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the total market
• To strategically profile key players and comprehensively analyze their market shares and core competencies, along with detailing the competitive landscape for market leaders
• To analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, collaborations, agreements, contracts, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and  developments in the cryptocurrency market
• To benchmark players within the market using the Competitive Leadership mapping, which analyzes market players on various parameters under the broad categories of business and product strategy

Research Methodology:

This research study incorporates the extensive use of secondary sources, directories, and databases, such as Hoovers, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Factiva, and OneSource, to identify and collect information useful for this technical, market-oriented, and commercial study of the cryptocurrency market. The primary sources mainly comprise several industry experts from core and related industries, along with preferred suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, service providers, cryptocurrency wallet and platform providers, technology developers, alliances, standards, and certification organizations related to all the phases of this industry’s value chain. Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the size of the cryptocurrency market and to estimate the size of the other dependent submarkets. After arriving at the overall market size, the total market has been split into several segments and subsegments, which have been verified through primary research by conducting extensive interviews with key people such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and executives. The market breakdown and data triangulation procedures have been employed to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for all segments and subsegments. The breakdown of the profiles of primary respondents has been depicted in the figure below:

To know about the assumptions considered for the study, download the pdf brochure

Key Target Audience:

• Cryptocurrency companies
• Wallet companies
• Cryptocurrency exchanges
• Semiconductor and electronics manufacturers
• Software solutions providers companies
• Banking and finance organizations
• E-commerce companies
• Research organizations and financial consulting companies
• Angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity firms, and start-up companies
• Market research companies

Scope of the Report:

In this research report, the cryptocurrency market has been segmented as follows:

Cryptocurrency Market by Offering:

• Hardware
• Software

Cryptocurrency Market by Process:

• Mining
• Transaction

Cryptocurrency Market by Type:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Ripple (XRP)
• Litecoin
• Dashcoin
• Others

Cryptocurrency Market by End User:

• Peer-to-Peer Payment
• Remittance
• E-Commerce and Retail
• Media and Entertainment
• Others

By Region:

• North America
• Europe
• APAC
• RoW

Available Customizations:

Analysis of the industries in the cryptocurrency market in different geographical regions; customization can be provided on country-wise analysis of the cryptocurrency market, with respect to industries  

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to 5)

Transparency and immutability of the distributed ledger technology and growing remittance in developing countries to drive cryptocurrency market to USD 2,902.0 Million by 2023

The cryptocurrency transactions ensure transparency as all the information of each transaction is recorded on a distributed public ledger known as blockchain.  All changes to the blockchain can be publicly viewed by all parties, thereby offering transparency in the operations. Moreover, all the transactions are immutable, which means that they cannot be altered or deleted. This is helpful for auditors and facilitates financial transactions by improving data security. Owing to this factor, cryptocurrency is witnessing rapid adoption across various verticals such as peer-to-peer payment, remittance, e-commerce, retail, media and entertainment, gaming, and travel and tourism.

Cryptocurrency has helped overcome some of the key challenges that the financial system has been facing over the past few decades. For instance, while overseas money remittance often take 3 to 5 days for clearance and settlements, cryptocurrency transactions can be done in a much shorter time. Faster transaction and settlement time can help consumers to transact more easily while eliminating the need for paying fees to intermediaries to streamline the process.
Although global remittance costs have declined in the past few years, they are still too high as both the sender and receiver have to pay additional taxes for remittance in Africa and South Asian countries. Thus, there is a need for some alternative solution that can reduce these huge costs involved in the transactions. Cryptocurrency transactions are compliance-free, and charge very low fees for cross-border remittance. This factor is expected to drive the market for cryptocurrency.

The cryptocurrency market in projected to reach USD 2,902.0 million by 2023 because of the advantages of compliance-free peer-to-peer transaction, cross-border remittance transfer, and increase in use cases as well as some macro drivers such as fluctuation in monetary regulation in different countries.  

Market Dynamics

Drivers

• Transparency and immutability of the distributed ledger technology
• Growing remittance in developing countries
• High cost of remittance across the border
• Fluctuating monetary regulations
• Significant increase in venture capital investments

Restraints

• Uncertain regulatory status
• Lack of awareness and technical understanding regarding cryptocurrency

Opportunities

• Significant growth opportunities in emerging and developed markets
• Acceptance of cryptocurrency across various industries

Challenges

• Concern regarding security, privacy, and control
• Technical challenges pertaining to scalability

Critical Questions:

• How is cryptocurrency influencing the payment market?
• Which hardware is most suitable for cryptocurrency mining?
• How are the hardware suppliers addressing the challenge of high computing power required for cryptocurrency mining?

Table of Contents

1 Introduction (Page No. - 14)
    1.1 Objectives of the Study
    1.2 Definition
    1.3 Scope of the Study
           1.3.1 Markets Covered
           1.3.2 Years Considered for the Study
    1.4 Currency
    1.5 Limitations
    1.6 Stakeholders

2 Research Methodology (Page No. - 18)
    2.1 Research Data
           2.1.1 Secondary and Primary Research
                    2.1.1.1 Key Industry Insights
           2.1.2 Secondary Data
                    2.1.2.1 Secondary Sources
           2.1.3 Primary Data
                    2.1.3.1 Breakdown of Primaries
                    2.1.3.2 Primary Sources
    2.2 Market Size Estimation
           2.2.1 Bottom-Up Approach
           2.2.2 Top-Down Approach
    2.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation
    2.4 Research Assumptions

3 Executive Summary (Page No. - 28)

4 Premium Insights (Page No. - 33)
    4.1 Attractive Market Opportunities in the Global Cryptocurrency Market
    4.2 Cryptocurrency Market, By Offering
    4.3 Cryptocurrency Market, By Hardware
    4.4 Cryptocurrency Market in APAC, By End-User and Country
    4.5 Cryptocurrency Market, By Geography, 2016

5 Market Overview (Page No. - 36)
    5.1 Introduction
           5.1.1 Drivers
                    5.1.1.1 Transparency and Immutability of the Distributed Ledger Technology
                    5.1.1.2 Growing Remittance in Developing Countries
                    5.1.1.3 High Cost of Remittance Across the Border
                    5.1.1.4 Fluctuating Monetary Regulations
                    5.1.1.5 Significant Increase in Venture Capital Investments
           5.1.2 Restraints
                    5.1.2.1 Uncertain Regulatory Status
                    5.1.2.2 Lack of Awareness and Technical Understanding Regarding Cryptocurrency
           5.1.3 Opportunities
                    5.1.3.1 Significant Growth Opportunities in Emerging and Developed Markets
                    5.1.3.2 Acceptance of Cryptocurrency Across Various Industries
           5.1.4 Challenges
                    5.1.4.1 Concern Regarding Security, Privacy, and Control
                    5.1.4.2 Technical Challenges Pertaining to Scalability

6 Industry Trends (Page No. - 41)
    6.1 Introduction
    6.2 Value Chain Analysis of the Cryptocurrency Market
    6.3 Key Trends in Cryptocurrency Market
           6.3.1 Ransomware Case Study
                    6.3.1.1 Technology Behind Ransomware
                    6.3.1.2 Encryption
                    6.3.1.3 Advent of Cryptocurrencies
                    6.3.1.4 Flaws in Ransomware
                    6.3.1.5 Impact of Ransomware Attack
           6.3.2 Initial Coin Offering (ICO)
           6.3.3 Cryptography in Cryptocurrency
           6.3.4 Cryptocurrency Prices (In USD)
           6.3.5 Funding
           6.3.6 Split in Cryptocurrencies to Combat High Transaction Fees and Currency Size Limit

7 Cryptocurrency Market, By Offering (Page No. - 48)
    7.1 Introduction
    7.2 Hardware
           7.2.1 FPGA
           7.2.2 GPU
           7.2.3 Asic
           7.2.4 Wallet
           7.2.5 Storage
    7.3 Software
           7.3.1 Mining Platform
           7.3.2 Blockchain
           7.3.3 Coin Wallet
           7.3.4 Exchange

8 Cryptocurrency Market, By Process (Page No. - 61)
    8.1 Introduction
    8.2 Mining
           8.2.1 Solo Mining
           8.2.2 Pool Mining
           8.2.3 Cloud Mining
    8.3 Transaction

9 Cryptocurrency Market, By Type (Page No. - 77)
    9.1 Introduction
    9.2 Bitcoin
    9.3 Ethereum (ETH)
    9.4 Ripple (XRP)
    9.5 Dashcoin
    9.6 Litecoin (LTC)
    9.7 Others

10 Cryptocurrency Market, By End User (Page No. - 83)
     10.1 Introduction
     10.2 Peer-To-Peer Payment
     10.3 Remittance
     10.4 E-Commerce and Retail
     10.5 Media and Entertainment
     10.6 Others

11 Geographic Analysis (Page No. - 91)
     11.1 Introduction
     11.2 North America
             11.2.1 US
             11.2.2 Canada
             11.2.3 Mexico
     11.3 Europe
             11.3.1 Germany
             11.3.2 France
             11.3.3 UK
             11.3.4 East Europe
             11.3.5 Rest of Europe
     11.4 APAC
             11.4.1 China
             11.4.2 Japan
             11.4.3 South Korea
             11.4.4 India
             11.4.5 Rest of APAC
     11.5 Rest of the World
             11.5.1 South America
             11.5.2 Middle East and Africa

12 Competitive Landscape (Page No. - 117)
     12.1 Introduction
     12.2 Market Ranking Analysis, 2016

13 Company Profiles (Page No. - 120)
(Business Overview, Products Offered & Services Strategies, Key Insights, Recent Developments, MnM View)*
     13.1 Nvidia
     13.2 Xilinx
     13.3 Intel
     13.4 Advanced Micro Devices
     13.5 Bitfury Group
     13.6 Ripple Labs
     13.7 Microsoft
     13.8 Alphapoint Corporation
     13.9 Amazon.Com
     13.10 Bitgo
     13.11 BTL Group (Blockchain Tech)
     13.12 Coinbase
     13.13 21 Inc.

*Details on Business Overview, Products Offered & Services Strategies, Key Insights, Recent Developments, MnM View Might Not Be Captured in Case of Unlisted Companies.

14 Appendix (Page No. - 154)
     14.1 Insights From Industry Experts
     14.2 Discussion Guide
     14.3 Knowledge Store: Marketsandmarkets’ Subscription Portal
     14.4 Introducing RT: Real-Time Market Intelligence
     14.5 Available Customizations
     14.6 Related Reports
     14.7 Author Details

List of Tables (71 Tables)

Table 1 List of Major Secondary Sources
Table 2 Cryptocurrency Price, 2013–2017 (USD)
Table 3 Funding in the Cryptocurrency Market, 2014–2017 (USD Million)
Table 4 Cryptocurrency Market, By Offering, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 5 Cryptocurrency Asic Hardware
Table 6 Cryptocurrency Market, By Hardware, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 7 Cryptocurrency Market for Hardware, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 8 Cryptocurrency Market for Hardware, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 9 Cryptocurrency Market, By Software, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 10 Cryptocurrency Market for Software, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 11 Cryptocurrency Market for Software, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 12 Scenario 1: Cryptocurrency Market, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 13 Scenario 2: Cryptocurrency Market, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 14 Cryptocurrency Market for Mining, By Mining Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 15 Cryptocurrency Market for Mining, By Offering, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 16 Scenario 1: Cryptocurrency Market for Mining, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 17 Scenario 2: Cryptocurrency Market for Mining, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 18 Scenario 1: Cryptocurrency Market for Mining in APAC, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 19 Scenario 2: Cryptocurrency Market for Mining in APAC, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 20 Cryptocurrency Market for Mining in North America, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 21 Cryptocurrency Market for Mining in Europe, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 22 Cryptocurrency Market for Mining in RoW, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 23 Cryptocurrency Market for Transaction, By Offering, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 24 Scenario 1: Cryptocurrency Market for Transaction, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 25 Scenario 2: Cryptocurrency Market for Transaction, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 26 Scenario 1: Cryptocurrency Market for Transaction in APAC, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 27 Scenario 2: Cryptocurrency Market for Transaction in APAC, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 28 Cryptocurrency Market for Transaction in North America, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 29 Cryptocurrency Market for Transaction in Europe, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 30 Cryptocurrency Market for Transaction in RoW, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 31 Market Capitalization of Various Cryptocurrencies Between 2014 and 2017, (USD Billion)
Table 32 Average Daily Number of Transactions for Various Cryptocurrencies Between 2016 and 2017
Table 33 Cryptocurrency Market, By Type , 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 34 Cryptocurrency Market, By End User, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 35 Cryptocurrency Market for Peer-To-Peer Payment, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 36 Cryptocurrency Market for Remittance, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 37 Cryptocurrency Market for E-Commerce and Retail, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 38 Cryptocurrency Market for Media and Entertainment, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 39 Cryptocurrency Market for Other End Users, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 40 Scenario 1: Cryptocurrency Market, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 41 Scenario 2: Cryptocurrency Market, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 42 Cryptocurrency Market in North America, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 43 Cryptocurrency Market in North America, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 44 Cryptocurrency Market in North America, By End User, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 45 Cryptocurrency Market in US, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 46 Cryptocurrency Market in Canada, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 47 Cryptocurrency Market in Mexico, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 48 Cryptocurrency Market in Europe, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 49 Cryptocurrency Market in Europe, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 50 Cryptocurrency Market in Europe, By End User, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 51 Cryptocurrency Market in Germany, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 52 Cryptocurrency Market in France, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 53 Cryptocurrency Market in UK, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 54 Cryptocurrency Market in East Europe, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 55 Cryptocurrency Market in Rest of Europe, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 56 Scenario 1: Cryptocurrency Market in APAC, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 57 Scenario 2: Cryptocurrency Market in APAC, By Country, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 58 Cryptocurrency Market in APAC, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 59 Cryptocurrency Market in APAC, By End User, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 60 Scenario 1: Cryptocurrency Market in China, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 61 Scenario 2: Cryptocurrency Market in China, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 62 Cryptocurrency Market in Japan, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 63 Cryptocurrency Market in South Korea, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 64 Cryptocurrency Market in India, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 65 Cryptocurrency Market in Rest of APAC, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 66 Cryptocurrency Market in RoW, By Region, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 67 Cryptocurrency Market in RoW, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 68 Cryptocurrency Market in RoW, By End User, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 69 Cryptocurrency Market in South America, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 70 Cryptocurrency Market in Mea, By Process, 2014–2023 (USD Million)
Table 71 Top 5 Players in the Cryptocurrency Market, 2016

List of Figures (50 Figures)

Figure 1 Market Segmentation
Figure 2 Research Design
Figure 3 Process Flow of Market Size Estimation
Figure 4 Bottom-Up Approach
Figure 5 Top-Down Approach
Figure 6 Data Triangulation
Figure 7 Cryptocurrency Market, By Offering, 2016 & 2023
Figure 8 Cryptocurrency Market, By Process, 2016 & 2023
Figure 9 Cryptocurrency Market, By Type, 2016
Figure 10 Cryptocurrency Market, By End–User, 2016 & 2023
Figure 11 Cryptocurrency Market, By Region, 2016
Figure 12 Cryptocurrency Market Expected to Grow at A High CAGR Between 2017 and 2023
Figure 13 Hardware to Grow at Highest Rate in the Cryptocurrency Market During the Forecast Period
Figure 14 GPU Expected to Hold the Largest Share of the Cryptocurrency Market During the Forecast Period
Figure 15 Peer-To-Peer Payment Expected to Hold the Largest Share of the APAC Cryptocurrency Market in 2017
Figure 16 Asia Pacific Expected to Witness the Highest CAGR in the Cryptocurrency Market Between 2017 and 2023
Figure 17 Cryptocurrency Market: Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Challenges
Figure 18 Global Remittance Flows, 2010–2016
Figure 19 Global Fees for Remittance Transaction in 2015
Figure 20 Value Chain Analysis of Cryptocurrency, 2016
Figure 21 Hardware to Hold A Larger Share of the Cryptocurrency Market During the Forecast Period
Figure 22 GPU to Hold the Largest Share of the Cryptocurrency Hardware Market By 2023
Figure 23 Mining Expected to Grow at A Higher CAGR in the Cryptocurrency Hardware Market During 2017–2023
Figure 24 APAC to Hold the Largest Share of the Cryptocurrency Software Market By 2023
Figure 25 Scenario 1:Mining to Hold A Larger Share of the Cryptocurrency Market During the Forecast Period
Figure 26 Pool Mining Expected to Register the Highest CAGR in the Cryptocurrency Market (2017–2023)
Figure 27 Scenario 1: APAC to Dominate the Market in Mining During the Forecast Period
Figure 28 Germany to Hold the Largest Share of the Hardware Market for the Mining Process in Europe By 2023
Figure 29 Scenario 1: China to Hold the Largest Share of the Market for Transactional Process in APAC During the Forecast Period
Figure 30 Germany to Hold the Largest Share of the Market for Transactional Process in Europe During the Forecast Period
Figure 31 South America to Hold A Larger Share of the Market for Software for Transaction Process in RoW During the Forecast Period
Figure 32 Market Capitalization of Various Coins Between 2014 and 2017
Figure 33 Ethereum Coin Expected to Register the Highest CAGR During the Forecast Period
Figure 34 Peer-To-Peer Payment to Hold the Largest Share of the Cryptocurrency Market During the Forecast Period
Figure 35 APAC to Hold the Largest Share of the Cryptocurrency Market for Remittance During the Forecast Period
Figure 36 APAC to Hold the Largest Share of the Cryptocurrency Market for Media and Entertainment During the Forecast Period
Figure 37 North America: Cryptocurrency Market Snapshot
Figure 38 Mining Expected to Lead the Cryptocurrency Market in US During the Forecast Period
Figure 39 Europe: Cryptocurrency Market Snapshot
Figure 40 Germany Expected to Dominate the Cryptocurrency Market in Europe By 2023
Figure 41 Mining to Lead the Cryptocurrency Market in the UK During the Forecast Period
Figure 42 APAC: Cryptocurrency Market Snapshot
Figure 43 Scenario 1: Transaction Market is Likely to Be Zero By 2023 in China
Figure 44 South America to Lead the Cryptocurrency Market in the RoW During the Forecast Period
Figure 45 Nvidia: Company Snapshot (2016)
Figure 46 Xilinx: Company Snapshot (2016)
Figure 47 Intel: Company Snapshot (2016)
Figure 48 Advanced Micro Devices: Company Snapshot (2016)
Figure 49 Microsoft: Company Snapshot (2016)
Figure 50 Amazon : Company Snapshot (2016)

According to the forecast provided by MarketsandMarkets, the cryptocurrency market was valued at USD 541.0 million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD 2,902.0 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 32.31% between 2017 and 2023. The growth of this market is driven by the benefits of compliance-free peer-to-peer transaction, cross-border remittance transfer, and increase in use cases as well as some macro drivers, such as fluctuating monetary regulations in different countries. The growth of the cryptocurrency market is further propelled by the transparency and immutability of the distributed ledger technology and benefits such as faster transaction and reduction in total ownership cost.  

This report segments the cryptocurrency market on the basis of offering, process, type, end user, and geography. The cryptocurrency market has been further subsegmented by offering into hardware and software. The hardware segment held the largest share of the cryptocurrency market in 2016. Hardware is mainly required for the mining purpose, which is considered to be the major contributor to the cryptocurrency market. Furthermore, in recent years, major hardware vendors, such as NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD, have started offering mining hardware. Moreover, many start-ups such as BitFury, GateHub, and Bitmine provide application-specific hardware solutions for cryptocurrency mining. In addition, the booming venture capital market for cryptocurrency-based start-ups is driving the cryptocurrency market for the hardware segment.  

On the basis of type, the cryptocurrency market has been segmented into Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), Dashcoin, Litecoin, and others. Ethereum is likely to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The benefits of Ethereum such as electronic cash, smart contract technology, and proof of stake are expected to drive the growth of the market for Ethereum.

On the basis of process, the cryptocurrency market has been segmented into mining and transaction. The benefits of pool mining such as lower hardware spending, lesser consumption of electricity, higher probability of getting a block, and help in solving the block much faster would drive the growth of the market for pool mining during the forecast period.   

On the basis of end users, the cryptocurrency market has been segmented into peer-to-peer payment, remittance, e-commerce and retail, media and entertainment, and others. The peer-to-peer payment segment held the largest share in 2016 as the value of cryptocoins has experienced sudden growth since 2014. Moreover, the growing awareness toward cryptocurrency has led to its growing adoption, especially for payments related to small contracts, salaries, and donations.

Of all the regions, APAC held the largest share of the cryptocurrency market in 2016 and is likely to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period between 2017 and 2023. China is the major contributor to the growth of the cryptocurrency market in APAC. Low electricity cost, growing public awareness, and presence of major hardware manufacturers are the major factors expected to drive the cryptocurrency market in China.

Uncertain regularity status on cryptocurrency and the lack of awareness and technical understanding regarding cryptocurrency are the major factors restraining the growth of the cryptocurrency market. The major players in the cryptocurrency market are Intel Corporation (US), NVIDIA Corporation (US), Microsoft Corporation(US), Xilinx, Inc. (US), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (US), AlphaPoint Corporation (US), Amazon.com, Inc.  (US), BitGo,  (US), BTL Group Ltd.(Blockchain Tech) (Canada), BitFury Group (US), Coinbase UK, Ltd. (US), 21 Inc. (US), and Ripple Labs Inc. (US).

Growing demand for compliance-free peer-to-peer transaction is driving the market for cryptocurrency

Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency would allow online payments directly from one party to another without involving a financial institution or a government-regulated channel. The peer-to-peer payment through cryptocurrency ensures that there is no double spending in the network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, which forms a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.

Remittance

Cryptocurrency has helped overcome some of the key challenges related to interbank transaction and compliance-free cross-border remittance that financial systems have faced over the years. While interbank transactions often take days for clearance and settlements, cryptocurrency transactions can be accomplished within a much shorter time. Faster transaction and settlement can help consumers to transact more easily while eliminating the need for paying fees to intermediaries to streamline the processes. This can help banks save on labor-intensive procedures with their customers and exchanges.

E-Commerce and retail

Bitcoin was the first virtual currency to gain the trust of its users and created many use cases across the e-commerce and retail market. Gradually, other types of cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), Dashcoin, and Litecoin were introduced in the market and gained significant traction. Later, with the growing awareness, cryptocurrency users and some institutions convinced some e-commerce companies, such as Alibaba.com, as well as retail shops to accept crypto coins as a mode of payment for products and services.

Media and Entertainment

Bitcoin’s popularity enabled it to gain acceptance as the first choice in casinos and other entertainment areas where users seek to avoid compliances related to gambling as well as and other tax-related issues. Moreover, cryptocurrency offers the highest degree of privacy and immediate access to funds. Online casino start-ups across North America, South America, and China are embracing Bitcoin and altcoins owing to their benefits such as ease of crossing national borders, elimination of multiple currency conversions, and no restrictions placed by banks or credit card companies on users for online games.

Critical questions would be;

• Where will all these developments take the industry in the mid to long term?
• Will the exchanges continue to explore new avenues for cryptocurrency? 
• How the cryptocurrency software and solution providers can leverage or explore?

To speak to our analyst for a discussion on the above findings, click Speak to Analyst