Crypto Apps Grow 400% Annually, 902% in Oct-Dec Quarter Of 2021, says Report

Crypto apps saw massive user growth globally in 2021. When compared to the same period last year, app installations increased by 400 percent annually and by more than 902 percent in the October-December quarter of 2021.

Also, two Indian crypto apps—Coinswitch Kuber and CoinDCX—now figure among the top-10.

All this and more was revealed in a report titled "Fintech deep dive: digital currencies 2022 playbook" by the US-based software company Apptopia, Inc. and mobile marketing analytics platform ADJust.

The same report also mentioned that the number of crypto apps has surged dramatically in 2017 and 2018 (coinciding with the crypto bull run at that time), but has shown a drop in 2019 and early 2020.

The report added that "as competition and the battle for users increase, they (crypto apps) can also face challenges.

Marketers and developers who adopt a developed user acquisition (UA) strategy have the best chance to succeed, as this user base is proving to be exceptionally engaged, offering high LTV (loan to value). This means it is likely worth going after high-cost users, as the chance to prove ROI (return on investment) is significantly above average, "the ADJust & Apptopia report said.

The report further said that referral programmes continued to be an essential marketing tool for crypto exchange apps.

"These programmes reward the referrer when the referred user purchases cryptocurrency on the exchange, usually for $100. Incentivized campaigns offering users a sign-up bonus, such as a free $10 in Bitcoin upon funding an account, are also a critical UA technique for driving first-time deposits (FTD) from new accounts, "it said.

That said, these incentives also add significantly to the customer acquisition costs (CAC) as long as they are proportional to the user's LTV.

Crypto Apps Vs. Stock Apps

Interestingly, crypto apps beat stock trading apps on various user engagement metrics, such as session lengths, sessions per user per day, retention rates, and stickiness, indicating an engaged and high-retention user base for crypto apps.

In the third and fourth quarters of 2021, retention rates for crypto apps remained consistently higher than those for stock trading apps.For example, crypto app retention sits at 32 percent on Day 1 of Q3 of 2021, while stock trading apps average 19 percent, "the report further said."