Digital Assets - Worldwide

The digital assets market is entering a more mature and utility-driven phase, following years of volatility and speculation. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum remain the foundation, gaining legitimacy through institutional adoption and clearer regulation. NFTs are evolving from speculative assets into functional tools for identity, access, and brand engagement, especially in gaming and commerce. DeFi protocols are regaining traction with a focus on security, compliance, and real-world integration, such as tokenized bonds and yield products. A unifying trend across all segments is tokenization, transforming physical and financial assets into blockchain-based tokens with programmable features. Regulatory clarity in major markets is helping rebuild investor confidence and attract traditional finance players.
However, risks remain high: market cycles are still sharp, technical vulnerabilities persist, and regulatory disparities between regions create uncertainty. The success of digital assets depends heavily on scalability, user experience, and bridging the gap between Web3 and mainstream applications. Interoperability and secure cross-chain solutions will be key growth drivers.
Overall, digital assets are moving beyond hype toward foundational roles in future financial and digital ecosystems, but the market will favor substance over speculation.

Data coverage:

The data encompasses B2C enterprises and cryptocurrency exchanges. Figures are based on trading volumes, revenues and user data of relevant services and products offered within the Digital Assets markets.

Modeling approach / Market size:

Market sizes are determined through a top-down approach, building on a specific rationale for each market segment. As a basis for evaluating the Digital Assets markets, we use annual financial reports of key players, industry reports, third-party reports, publicly available databases, and survey results from primary research (e.g. the Statista Consumer Insights). In addition, we use the trading volume of leading cryptocurrency exchanges and relevant key market indicators, such as GDP, consumer spending, population, internet penetration, online banking penetration, app downloads, and media coverage. This data helps us estimate the market size for each country individually.

Forecasts:

In our forecasts, we apply diverse forecasting techniques. The selection of forecasting techniques is based on the behavior of the relevant market. In this market, we use the Support Vector Regression as it is well suited for forecasting digital products and services due to the non-linear growth of technology adoption. The main drivers in this market are trading volumes, interest rates, inflation, GDP, population, online banking penetration, app downloads and media coverage.

Additional notes:

The market is updated twice a year in case market dynamics change.