Grayscale Investments published research on October 28, 2026, estimating that the United States accounts for approximately 15-20% of global crypto activity, with roughly 80-85% of transactions occurring elsewhere.
The research note, authored by Zach Pandl, Grayscale's Head of Research, highlights a disparity between American infrastructure and actual usage. The US hosts about 36% of Bitcoin's hashrate—the combined computing power securing the network—and about 31% of Ethereum's full nodes, which store and verify complete copies of the blockchain.
Despite this infrastructure dominance, most crypto users are not American. Grayscale frames the crypto economy as inherently global, suggesting that American regulatory changes affect a smaller portion of total market activity than often assumed by US investors.
The research was published ahead of the November 2026 US midterm elections, when crypto investors typically focus on domestic political outcomes. Grayscale argues that this focus may overstate the importance of US policy for the sector's overall growth.
The US crypto economy contracted by approximately 2.2% year-over-year as of June 2026, according to the findings. However, Grayscale contends that growth in other regions, particularly in stablecoin adoption and decentralized finance applications, continues to drive global activity.
One area where the US retains significant influence is exchange-traded products. Inflows into US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs remain a critical component of market activity, providing American capital meaningful influence over prices despite representing a minority of on-chain transactions.
Grayscale notes that American energy and regulatory policy can meaningfully affect Bitcoin network security through the country's substantial hashrate share, while the 31% of Ethereum nodes hosted in the US gives the country weight in network verification. The research suggests crypto has outgrown dependence on any single jurisdiction, with the US functioning more as a critical infrastructure provider than the sole driver of market growth.
