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Crypto has added wallets, trading features, payment tools, loyalty programs and new blockchain networks. The harder test is whether people return when a launch campaign or token reward ends. Available figures suggest a wide gap between owning crypto and actively using it, but they do not establish a universal retention rate—or prove that any single product feature reliably keeps users.
Crypto ownership is not the same as regular use
a16z crypto estimated 716 million crypto owners worldwide in its 2025 report, alongside an estimated 40–70 million active crypto users. Those are separate estimates of different populations, based on the report’s own analysis; they should not be read as a measured funnel in which the difference represents people who tried crypto and left. The same report counted 181 million monthly active onchain addresses, down 18% year over year. Addresses are not necessarily people, and that figure is not directly comparable with either owners or active users. a16z crypto’s 2025 State of Crypto report also said crypto mobile wallet users rose 20% year over year.
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These figures tell different stories: ownership can grow while some measures of activity fall. They do not, on their own, say whether an individual app’s customers came back, how often they used it, or what made them stay.
Why product launches and incentives are not enough to prove retention
Rewards can help attract first-time activity, but participation while a reward is available is not the same as continued use afterward. In an Onchain Research survey of 1,005 Web3 users, 37.08% named financial incentives as their primary motivation for using Web3 apps. The survey captures responses from people already engaged with Web3; it does not represent all consumers or prove that incentives caused them to stop using an app when rewards ended. The authors argue that products need utility beyond token-price appreciation. Onchain Research’s consumer-app analysis also identifies wallet setup, private-key management and unpredictable transaction fees as barriers to use.
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The Block’s 2026 digital-assets outlook reports that usage on most new Layer 2 networks declined after incentive cycles. That is a warning about treating subsidized activity as durable demand, not proof that every network or product loses users once incentives change. The public finding does not provide a common cohort method that would support a single retention comparison across those networks. The Block’s 2026 outlook also points to distribution and partnerships as factors in Layer 2 growth.
What kinds of use might bring people back?
Trading is only one possible reason to open a crypto product. Payments, loyalty and other practical activities can fit into routines that recur independently of token prices—but the available evidence suggests possibilities, not a proven recipe for retention.
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- Payments: Onchain Research reports that 25.91% of surveyed consumers said they regularly used crypto payment apps. The survey covered more than 1,000 Web3 app users, so this is not a population-wide estimate. Its consumer-app report describes payments as a leading category.
- Loyalty: The same report discusses blockchain-enabled restaurant loyalty programs. It cites retention rates of up to 70% for practical-reward blockchain loyalty programs, but its public summary does not establish the programs, cohort period, denominator or comparison method. Treat that figure as a narrowly reported claim, not a general crypto-app benchmark.
- Stablecoins, staking and rewards: Coinbase attributed growth in its monthly transacting users partly to customers participating in rewards, holding USDC or staking assets. That shows how a platform can combine activities; it does not isolate which one encouraged repeat use.
Useful products still have to be convenient and trustworthy. If setting up a wallet, protecting keys or understanding fees is difficult, a practical use case may not be enough to make repeat use easy. Onchain Research discusses trust and user experience alongside utility, while noting that its participants were already Web3-engaged. Its findings therefore offer limited evidence about what would persuade a new mainstream user.
Company activity numbers are not cohort-retention rates
Several prominent industry figures describe scale or activity rather than whether the same users return over time. Their units and definitions differ, so they cannot be combined into a single retention trend.
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| Measure | Reported figure | What it can—and cannot—show |
|---|---|---|
| a16z crypto estimate of owners | 716 million in 2025 | An estimate of people who owned crypto, not a count of regular users or retained customers. Source |
| a16z crypto estimate of active users | 40–70 million in 2025 | An estimate based on the report’s own analysis and updated methodology; it is not a published cohort-retention rate. Source |
| Coinbase average monthly transacting users (MTUs) | 9.2 million in 2025, up from 8.4 million in 2024 | Coinbase defines an MTU using a rolling 28-day period and includes certain passive transactions. The company cautions that the measure may overstate unique consumers, so it is not a retention rate. Source |
| Binance registered users | 300 million, according to its 2025 year-in-review | A company-reported registered-account figure, not evidence that those accounts are active or retained. Source |
| Binance Pay user growth | 30% year over year, according to Binance’s 2025 year-in-review | A company-reported growth figure; the announcement does not define it as cohort retention. Source |
| DappRadar daily unique active wallets | 24.6 million average per day by year-end 2024 | A wallet-activity measure, not a count of unique people or customers returning in a defined cohort. Source |
Coinbase’s increase offers a concrete example of platform activity, but its 2025 Form 10-K attributes the increase primarily to users engaging with rewards, holding USDC or staking. The company’s 2026 priorities include an Everything Exchange, stablecoin and payments infrastructure, DeFi integrations and an expanded Base App. These are strategic choices, not evidence that adding more products automatically improves retention. Coinbase’s shareholder letter describes those priorities.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to judge whether a crypto product is earning repeat use
A useful assessment starts by asking what behavior is being counted and whether it continues after the conditions that attracted a user change. For users comparing products, and builders evaluating their own launches, keep these checks separate:
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- Look past sign-ups: Registration shows an account was created, not that anyone used the product afterward.
- Ask what “active” means: An active address, wallet, monthly transacting user and app user are not interchangeable. Check the source’s definition before comparing numbers.
- Separate rewarded activity from ordinary use: Compare behavior during an incentive campaign with activity after it ends or changes. A spike during rewards alone cannot establish lasting demand.
- Look for recurring value: Payments, loyalty and other practical tasks may give users reasons to return beyond speculation, but no source here establishes them as a universal solution.
- Check the experience and trust burden: Wallet setup, key management and uncertain fees can make a product harder to use repeatedly.
- Examine distribution as well as technology: Partnerships and integrations can help a product reach people, but reach is different from retention.
- Demand a defined return measure: A retention claim is most informative when it identifies the cohort, time period, denominator and behavior that counts as a return. The figures cited above generally do not provide a shared basis for that comparison.
DappRadar’s 2024 review illustrates why a single growth number can obscure mixed conditions: alongside 24.6 million average daily unique active wallets by year-end, it reported a 19% year-over-year decline in NFT trading volume and $1.3 billion in hack and exploit losses during 2024. Those figures describe wallet activity, market performance and security incidents—not retained users—but they show why activity should not be mistaken for broad, durable product-market fit. DappRadar’s 2024 industry review provides the figures.
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