Crypto app downloads have interesting figure to surprise traders

Cryptocurrency trading and wallet app downloads have fallen by 55% year-over-year (YoY) through the third quarter due to sluggish market trends, says a recent Apptopia report.  

The report surveyed market trends around fintech companies and concluded that the “negative sentiment has gone too far.” Among the fintech segments worst hit by the economic crisis, the cryptocurrency industry leads the pack.

It was in the second quarter of the current year that the Terra stablecoin system collapsed, leading to the crash hitting the cryptocurrency market.

Since then, the crypto market has been plagued by a bear trend for the rest of the year. New app downloads, reflecting the number of new members, have fallen 55% YoY through Q3.

Source: apptopia

On the other hand, cash advance and buy now, budget tracking, and pay later app downloads have grown 69%, 22.6%, and 22% YoY respectively during Q3.

The trend shows that a lot of people are relying on such apps because people are short of cash amidst a dwindling economy with rising inflation. “People are looking to purchase items they do not currently have the cash flow for,” the report stated.

Sharp contrast from last year’s trend

The current trend is in stark opposition to one witnessed last year. The first half of 2021 witnessed the biggest crypto bloom ever which saw a large number of users flocking towards it.

As per a Finbold report, cryptocurrency apps represented 51% of the top 50 asset management app downloads in the United States during H1 2021. In 2019, the share of crypto apps was barely 19%.

Source: Finbold

In fact, crypto app downloads surpassed stock trading apps for the first time in 2021. Corporate institutions entering the crypto industry also resulted in the growth of the industry. Another reason was the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

But as the crypto crash hit the market and many scams unfolded during Q2 2022, a steady fall in crypto app downloads was also witnessed.

As the market remains sluggish, we are yet to see how much people would be willing to invest in cryptocurrency. With government regulations growing stronger across the world, we also need to observe how people choose to engage with this asset segment in the future.