How many people hold *any* crypto?

[This post first appeared on Cent here]

People are worried about crypto. Like a lot.

If you didn't know any better, it would probably seem like crypto is just one more price drop away from hitting zero.

But like @rhyzom and I have told one another a good 4 to 5 times over the last week alone, it's still super early days for crypto.

Long-term I have a pretty firm (and optimistic) conviction about where crypto is going.

That said, I'm just like everyone else. I'm still worried. I can't help it. While I'm lucky that price hasn't been a factor that I've had to worry about since ETH broke the $15 mark in early 2017, I have one worry that I haven't been able to shake for a while. In fact it's been growing and growing...

I'm worried that no one, save for a super small minority of die hard believers, is holding any crypto. If I had any issue with anxiety, that worry would keep me up every night. I'd probably worry myself to death because of it.

This whole collective fantasy of ours, that crypto will somehow become a part of everyone's lives in a myriad of ways, is contingent on people actually holding crypto in some way, shape or form.

That's partly the reason Cent exists to begin with - to put more crypto into more pockets. And since last year nearly 75,000 micro payments have made sure users in over 160 countries have received some crypto. That's a start - a small one, to be sure, but a start nonetheless.

So, what I really want to know is how many people are holding *any* crypto. I want to see research and estimates. Especially after this latest price crash, I want to know if the total number of crypto holders experienced its own dip or not.

For anyone that's able to provide insight into what that total number of holders is, either by coming up with original analysis or finding any sort of research or convincing speculation, they will be tipped (even if they provide a reply after the bounty ends).

Many thanks in advance.