Former hedge fund manager and Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal recently turned heads with a bullish crypto projection. He claims that the global crypto user base could soar to 4 billion by 2030. He made this forecast in an X post on August 31, 2025, where he compared crypto’s growth trajectory to that of the early internet.
Referring to a chart that showed the growth trajectory of crypto users vis-a-vis that of total internet users back in 1992. He shows the similarity in using wallet count versus IP addresses as a proxy for adoption. By the end of 2024, he noted, crypto users had reached 659 million, growing at approximately 137% annually, compared to the internet’s 76% at a similar stage.
In a separate chart, he goes on to show that if the trend is extended and we account for the slowing internet’s pace, even then, crypto users have reached 1 billion in 2025 and has the potential to reach 4 billion by 2030. Pal further asserted that this user growth could propel the crypto market to a staggering $100 trillion in capitalization by around 2032–2034.
Source: @RaoulGMI
Skepticism meets defense in netizen reactions
And since it’s an opinion, not everyone embraced the forecast willingly. Some X users pushed back, arguing that counts based on wallet creations could be misleading, since individuals may open multiple wallets. Others noted that wallet proliferation doesn’t necessarily equal unique users. Pal responded on X by highlighting that people also operate multiple IP addresses, defending his comparative model.
Raoul Pal isn’t alone in this forward-looking enthusiasm. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, forecasts that “several billion people” could be using Bitcoin by 2030. Cathie Wood of ARK Invest envisions a future where Bitcoin reaches as high as $1.5 million per coin by 2030. Studies by institutions like BlackRock show that crypto adoption will be faster than even mobile phones or the internet. Meanwhile, BCG’s 2022 report estimated a more modest 1 billion crypto users by 2030.