Crypto's Wider Adoption Gains Ground With Norway Jumping In

The continued growth of crypto investment, particularly among the elderly, is an intriguing trend. That bias is gradually transitioning from a niche among extremely savvy investors to a mainstream market.

The question is—are regulators going to be able to keep up?

Bitcoin began its upward trend in 2023, and by 2024, it had surpassed the returns from the S&P 500 and reached new all-time highs.

Faith in the digital assets market has been restored as values keep climbing despite the so-called 'crypto winter' and the controversies in the sector for a period in 2023 after the collapse of FTX.

The story of crypto adoption in the United States is widely known, and reports and surveys give a positive narrative.

There has been a near doubling of crypto ownership in the three years after the end of 2021. By the end of this year, about 65 million Americans, or about 28% of the adult population, will be crypto owners.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are three of the most sought-after cryptocurrencies among 2025 crypto investors, according to Security.org's Crypto Sentiment Report earlier this year.

Sixty percent of crypto-savvy adults think that Donald Trump's second term as president will increase the value of digital assets, and nearly half of those same persons think that Trump will encourage more widespread adoption of cryptos in the United States.

While that is not surprising, the wider global adoption is also gaining traction.

According to a study by the Nordic Blockchain Association and K33 Research , a record-breaking 550,000 Norwegians, or 12% of the adult population, already hold crypto.

The report's key findings show that the majority of the increase in crypto adoption has come from individuals over the age of 40, whose involvement has doubled in the last year.

More Norwegians under 40 years currently own cryptocurrency than stocks, a statistic showing no signs of abating.

Despite a persistent gender imbalance, Norway has the highest female ownership rate in the Nordic countries, while male ownership remains greater at 17% compared to 7%.

Investors are generally conservative, with most holding less than 50,000 Norwegian crowns ($4,786). This could be because they anticipate a larger gain from the expanding market.

More importantly, expectations for future growth are high: 26% of Norwegians plan to purchase crypto by 2035, which could double usage to 1.2 million people.

This reflects a larger cultural change. Investing in crypto is gradually expanding beyond Norway's youthful tech elite.

Separately, the report also showed the biggest increase is in Finland, going from 6-8% to about 11%. Denmark came in second, jumping from 6.5% to nearly 10%.

With an estimated $5.8 billion, Norway has the most cryptocurrency wealth.

The report provides great insight into the growing adoption of digital assets beyond regular investment markets.

Bitcoin adoption follows the S-curve, a well-established paradigm for new tech's progress, which consists of gradual early adoption, quick acceleration, before reaching maturity.

With its unique monetary network characteristics, historical similarities, and current global economic tendencies, Bitcoin's adoption based on the curve is poised for meteoric and exponential expansion.

Elsewhere

Blockcast

Blockcast 56 | Lombard Co-Founder Jacob Phillips on Bitcoin DeFi's Challenges and Innovations

Jacob Phillips entered crypto in 2018, co-founded Lombard in 2024, focusing on Bitcoin liquidity and staking solutions to bridge DeFi and CeFi. In this Blockcast episode, Jacob reflects on Lombard's core mission to enable secure, permissionless Bitcoin staking and liquidity through its liquid staking token, LBTC. He highlights the challenge of trustless Bitcoin DeFi and the importance of balancing decentralization with institutional security.

Previous episodes of Blockcast can be found on Podpage , with guests like Samar Sen ( Talos), Jason Choi (Tangent), Lasanka Perera (Independent Reserve), Mark Rydon (Aethir), Peter Hui (Moongate), Luca Prosperi (M^0), Charles Hoskinson (Cardano), Aneirin Flynn (Failsafe), and Yat Siu (Animoca Brands) on our most recent shows.

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