Crypto Adoption Surges in 2025 as Memecoins Drive Growth: Gemini

Crypto is surging quickly around the world in 2025, with memecoins helping to bring in new users, according to cryptocurrency exchange Gemini.

A new report, titled Global State of Crypto, found that cryptocurrency ownership in the U.K. rose to 24% this year, up from 18% in 2024, while the U.S. recorded a modest increase from 20% to 21%.

France also jumped from 18% to 21%, and Singapore posted the highest adoption rate among surveyed countries at 28%, up from 26%. The study looked at 7,205 consumers across the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, Singapore, and Australia.

Two of the biggest drivers cited in the report include more everyday people buying memecoins, and the U.S. government under President Donald Trump strongly supporting crypto. In March, the Trump administration started a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) to accumulate more Bitcoin (BTC) without extra taxes and promised not to sell the 198,000 BTC the U.S. already owns.

“Memecoins serve as a significant onramp for new investors to digital assets, sparking broader adoption that leads to investing in more established cryptocurrencies,” the report reads. “The vast majority (94%) of memecoin owners also own other crypto.”

Memecoin Adoption

In the U.S., 31% of investors who own both memecoins and traditional cryptocurrencies said they bought memecoins first. Similar trends were recorded in Australia at 30% and the U.K. at 28%, followed by Singapore at 23%, Italy at 22%, and France at 19%.

The report also noted that France leads the way in memecoin adoption, with 67% of crypto investors in the country holding memecoins. Singapore follows at 59%, then Italy at 58%, the UK at 57%, the US at 55%, and Australia at 45%.

The findings come as the memecoin market cap has surged recently, now topping $77 billion – up 5% over the past week, according to CoinGecko. This is approximately 2.2% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, which currently stands at $3.55 trillion.

Dogecoin (DOGE) currently leads the pack with a market cap of over $34.8 billion and more than $3.6 billion in daily trading volume. Shiba Inu (SHIB) follows with an $8.6 billion market cap. Other popular tokens include Pepe (PEPE), with a $6.2 billion market cap, and Official Trump (TRUMP), which has a market cap of over $2.6 billion.