Top 10 Cryptocurrency Cities By Volume, According To StatusMoney

Citizens of Jacksonville, Florida have developed quite the appetite for cryptocurrency.

In December, when cryptomania seemingly hit an all-time high, crypto buyers in Jacksonville moved the most money into cryptocurrency exchanges, totaling $31,468 per person on average, the highest in the nation and over twice the amount of its closest competitor, Memphis, Tennessee, according to a new report from StatusMoney. The figures are based on crypto activity per person in December 2017.

Top 10 U.S. Cities With The Highest Crypto Holdings Per Person

• Jacksonville, Florida: $31,468.
• Memphis, Tennessee: $15,748.
• Albuquerque, New  Mexico: $12,479.
• Charleston, South Carolina: $9,442.
• Alpharetta, Georgia: $8,382.
• Sunnyvale, California: $8,309.
• Santa Clara, California: $8,012.
• San Mateo, California: $7,323.
• Torrance, California: $7,054.
• Manhattan, New York: $7,044.

“We looked at transactions in and out of major crypto exchanges and we can see when someone moves money from [a] checking account to Coinbase and other major crypto exchanges,” StatusMoney founder Majd Maksad told Benzinga.

“For every person who had any transfer into a cryptocurrency exchange, Jacksonville was the highest."

Why is Jacksonville So Keen On Crypto?

While Maksad could not point to a specific catalyst, the top five cities on the crypto activity list provide further evidence that much of the interest in cryptocurrency is coming from retail investors who may not have much knowledge of the product. 

Nearly one-third of crypto investments are coming from those who make under $100,000 per year, according to StatusMoney, and given the extreme volatility cryptocurrencies experience on a daily basis, it is difficult for unsophisticated investors to ride out the rollercoaster ride that is bitcoin.

“In December, people that made $50,000 or less in income per year moved 14 percent of their investment portfolio into crypto. That is scary,” Maksad said. 

“I don’t think it is a very well thought-out bet. If you want to point to an underlying driver, it’s euphoria and it’s greed. ‘I don’t know what this is, but it seems to be the future and I'll put some money in it’ is what these investors are thinking."

New York and Chicago unsurprisingly take the top two spots on the list of the top 10 crypto cities by volume, but Jacksonville invested so much in crypto that it took the third spot at 4.2 percent of total volume, despite being the 12th-largest city in the US.

Top 10 Crypto Cities By Volume

• Manhattan, NY: 6.9 percent 
• Chicago, Illinois: 4.9 percent 
• Jacksonville, Florida: 4.2 percent. 
• San Francisco, California: 3.5 percent.
• San Antonio, Texas: 3.1 percent. 
• Washington, D.C.: 2.4 percent. 
• Houston, Texas: 1.9 percent. 
• Los Angeles, California: 1.7 percent. 
• Las Vegas, Nevada: 1.7 percent. 
• Atlanta, Georgia: 1.6 percent.

While blockchain has some very real uses, Maksad said he thinks that the currency may be one of the worst applications of the revolutionary technology and that it may be best suited for transactions that occur less frequently.

“In an economy where trillions of transactions are occurring, currency may be the worst application of blockchain technology,” he said. 

Disclosure: The author has a long position in bitcoin.

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