Grayscale puts US crypto activity at 15–20% ahead of midterms
Oct 30, 2026
Grayscale has estimated that the United States accounts for roughly 15–20% of global crypto activity, arguing that adoption will keep moving forward regardless of the outcome of next week’s midterm elections.
Grayscale’s report, published Oct. 28 by research head Zach Pandl, presents the figures as part of its case that crypto’s growth extends beyond American politics. Its accompanying chart brings together measures of infrastructure, transactions, ownership and user activity.
Grayscale finds the largest US shares in Bitcoin and Ethereum infrastructure
Bitcoin mining leads the chart, with the US accounting for an estimated 36% of global hashrate. Ethereum full nodes follow at 31%, while the country’s share of onchain transaction value stands at 26%.
Payment activity falls below those infrastructure figures. The chart assigns the US 24% of stablecoin payment value and 22% of merchant payment transactions, with developers at 21%.
The 15–20% estimate combines different measures
The chart’s footnote explains how Grayscale reached its headline range. Its indicators have a median US share of 16% and a mean of 19%, which the firm uses to support the approximate 15–20% estimate.
Cambridge’s mining survey measures a different sample
A separate Cambridge study, published in 2025, recorded 75.4% of surveyed mining activity in the United States and 7.1% in Canada.
Its survey covered 49 mining firms with operations in 23 countries. Participants represented approximately 48% of Bitcoin’s network hashrate at the time of data collection.
Cambridge cautioned that strong participation from American firms likely overstated the country’s share. The 75.4% reading describes activity captured by the survey, rather than a finding that the US controlled that proportion of all Bitcoin mining.
The researchers nevertheless identified North America as the main location for surveyed operations, alongside emerging activity in South America and the Middle East and continued mining in Northern Europe.
US crypto policy remains active ahead of the election
In Pandl’s assessment, bipartisan ownership and institutional participation support continued adoption. He cited polling on Republican and Democratic crypto use, bipartisan backing for legislation and financial firms’ work with stablecoins, tokenized funds and exchange-traded products.
Washington’s rulemaking has continued ahead of the vote. As crypto. news previously reported, the OCC finalized rules under the GENIUS Act on Oct. 21, covering reserves, redemptions, risk management and supervision, with a Jan. 18, 2027, effective date.
The Federal Reserve’s separate proposals, released Sept. 24, address reserve backing and applications from insured state member banks seeking to issue stablecoins through subsidiaries.
View sources >> Grayscale puts US crypto activity at 15–20% ahead of midterms
