The average crypto investor realized less than $1,000 of gains in 2023: CoinLedger

The average crypto investor made $887.60 in realized gains for 2023, according to a study by cryptocurrency tax software platform CoinLedger.

Last year’s average gains mark a significant turnaround following the turmoil of 2022, when the average investor realized over $7,000 in losses amid the collapse of several crypto firms and a severe bear market.

“It’s clear that the cryptocurrency market is growing once again.” CoinLedger CEO David Kemmerer said in a statement. “After the collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency ecosystem saw a freefall in asset prices. This latest rebound highlights the resilience of the industry.”

The report’s statistics were generated via CoinLedger’s proprietary user base of more than 500,000 crypto investors. The majority (80%) of CoinLedger’s users are from the United States, with 6% in Australia, 5% in Canada and 9% distributed among other countries, Kemmerer told The Block.

Ether was the most disposed of cryptocurrency

Ether was the most disposed of cryptocurrency by transaction count among CoinLedger’s users in 2023. Solana, Bitcoin, BNB and Polygon made up the remainder of the top five, respectively.

“Despite Bitcoin being the most popular cryptocurrency in the world, it was only the third most disposed of cryptocurrency,” CoinLedger said. “The data supports the narrative that Bitcoin holders are less likely to dispose of their coins than investors of other cryptocurrencies.”

Similarly, Ethereum ETH
+1.21%
led in terms of the most imported blockchain transactions to the tax software platform — with Bitcoin, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon and Avalanche C-Chain rounding out the top five.

Unsurprisingly, given the dominant U.S. residency of CoinLedger’s users, Coinbase was the most imported centralized exchange last year. Coinbase Pro was still in fourth place despite the phased transition of its advanced trading features to Coinbase.com. Crypto.com and Kucoin had the second and fifth most imported transactions, respectively.

Although 2023 was a disastrous year for Binance on the legal and regulatory front — involving a $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, a lawsuit filed against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging a violation of securities laws, significant related layoffs and a reduction in market share — Binance.US remained in third place for CoinLedger imports. The SEC also filed a lawsuit against Coinbase last year.

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