Canada and the USA have both adopted cryptocurrency, but each country’s crypto policies have affected crypto adoption in different ways. Canada was the first to introduce new crypto regulation in 2023, which slowed down adoption by Canadian citizens and businesses. On the other hand, the US introduced the GENIUS Act in 2025, which has encouraged US citizens and businesses to adopt crypto.

Why Is Ownership Higher in the US Than Canada?

The Canadian government has focused more on rules that promote investor safety, which has had the adverse of affect of making adoption more difficult. Conversely, the USA has opted to encourage crypto growth by allowing infrastructure and policy to advance more quickly.

USA

The key reason is that Bitcoin is a US national reserve, so it goes without saying that this alone instills confidence. If your government trusts Bitcoin, then you probably will, too. However, on top of this, the USA’s crypto ownership rate is higher due to friendlier federal policy introduced in 2025 that encourages deeper capital markets, makes infrastructure growth less rigid, and makes ETFs easier for everyday citizens to access.

Canada

Canada moved in the other direction, introducing tighter rules in 2023. The idea was to make crypto investing safer, but that hasn’t encouraged adoption, and the stats below show it has slowed adoption. It also means less wiggle room for crypto infrastructure to grow within the country, and one piece of evidence of this is that a Canadian crypto policy that came into force in 2023 led major crypto exchanges to cease offering services to citizens in the country.

How Many People Own Crypto in Canada and the USA?

The population of Canada is much smaller than that of the US, so of course, the US has a larger number of crypto holders. However, the population isn’t the figure we use to judge the adoption rate; rather, we use the percentage share of people who own crypto.

Measure	Canada	United States
Adult crypto ownership	Around 10%	About 22%
Recent trend	Cooled from 13% in 2022 to 10% in 2023	Roughly flat at a high level
Typical use	Mostly investment and holding	Investment, with growing payment use

Number of People in the USA Holding Crypto

One publicly available statistic shows that 22% of US citizens own crypto. Some have adopted it through exchanges and wallets, and others have invested in ETFs. However, those stats come from a Motley Fool Money survey of only 2,000 people. That said, the results showed 16% directly own crypto through a wallet or exchange and 6% through an ETF.

Although the survey is a drop in the ocean compared to the population, such surveys can be more reliable than stats from exchanges and wallets, assuming participants answer honestly about self-custody holdings. If we surveyed companies offering citizens in the USA ETFs, exchanges and custodial wallets, we would miss citizens who store crypto in non-custodial wallets, which have no country ties.

Number of People Holding Crypto in Canada

Canada’s statistics are more outdated because there isn’t much data available to track ownership. The Bank of Canada released a 2023 report estimating that 10% of the population owned crypto and noted that this was a 5% increase over the previous consensus estimate from 2018.

Also, the Ontario Securities Commission conducted a survey that found similar results: 10% crypto asset ownership, down 3% from 2022’s 13%. Overall, based on the limited information available since 2023, we can reasonably assume that crypto adoption in Canada has declined and, with a fair amount of confidence, that it has not increased as it has in the USA.

The Types of Crypto Holders in the USA and Canada

Crypto holders in both countries tend to be younger, male and in the higher income bracket. However, the average amount of crypto Canadians hold is usually small, with about 36% holding less than $1,000, suggesting that, compared to the USA, holders are more cautious or skeptical. With that said, the figures for Canada are not up to date, as there’s no recent census; it’s reasonable to assume the gap hasn’t closed much.

Why Is the US Crypto Market So Much Bigger?

Money and infrastructure in the United States are more up to speed with crypto tech and adoptions. We only have to look at the ETF gap to make this point clear.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs held about 102 billion dollars and roughly 1.3 million BTC, close to 6 to 7% of all Bitcoin, by May 2026. Canada’s entire crypto ETF market sat near 5.7 billion Canadian dollars in late 2024. Although those are the latest figures reported from Canada, the considerable gap between the two is unlikely to have changed much.

There are two other factors that widen the gap.

Population: There are about 340 million people in the US, compared with roughly 40 million in Canada.
Infrastructure: the US hosts close to 30,000 Bitcoin ATMs, the most of any country.

How Do Crypto Rules Compare in Canada and the USA?

Canada built clear rules for crypto early and kept them strict, while the US spent years in legal grey areas before legislating in 2025. Canada’s approach is consistent but restrictive.

AML Rules: Canada has regulated crypto for money laundering since 2014.
Platform rules: A 2023 Canadian Securities Administrators notice required exchanges to enter into strict pre-registration undertakings and banned unapproved stablecoin trading, as well as the use of leverage and margin.
Fallout: Binance, one of the biggest and most popular exchanges, left Canada in 2023, with OKX, Bybit and Kucoin also exiting. This was a huge blow for pro crypto adoption in the country.
US regulations Took Longer: The GENIUS Act was signed into law on 18 July 2025, establishing the country’s first federal framework for payment stablecoins, and the SEC, now led by Paul Atkins, placed Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs under a generic listing standard in October 2025, making new products easier to launch. Since then, the country has moved fast, overtaking Canada.

Overall, Canada began to regulate crypto first, but the process is strict and has resulted in a slow-moving environment. On the other hand, the US has moved quickly since its GENIUS Act took effect, despite the country taking so long to introduce it.

Does Either Government Hold Bitcoin?

The United States is now the largest known holder of Bitcoin, with around 328,000 BTC, while Canada does not hold any reserves. Possibly one reason for this is that the US banned a central bank digital currency by executive order in January 2025, so holding crypto as a reserve currency is a workaround, while Canada is exploring a digital Canadian dollar.

That’s because, in the US, an executive order in March 2025 created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve estimated at about $25 billion. Although that’s not all from the ‘strategic’ part of the policy, as much of the BTC the US government holds has come from criminal seizures.

Faster on ETFs and Stablecoins?

Although Canada won the ETF race for years, the US has quickly taken the lead on stablecoins since the introduction of the GENIUS Act. On ETFs, Canada was first. The Purpose Bitcoin ETF launched on the Toronto Stock Exchange in February 2021 as the world’s first spot Bitcoin ETF, while US spot Bitcoin ETFs were not approved until January 2024. Stablecoins flipped the order.

Canada still restricts stablecoin trading on its regulated platforms, while the GENIUS Act gave US issuers a federal rulebook in 2025 and pushed banks and payment firms to adopt it. So Canada led on regulated investment products, and the US now leads on payments and settlement.

Which Country Is Better for Crypto Users?

It comes back to the same trade-off, since each market sacrifices something the other protects. Canada focuses on prevention, using strict registration, custody standards and bans on leverage to stop problems before they start, which is why its platform list is smaller but tightly vetted.

The US is more interested in scale and disclosure, with more products and clearer federal rules, though broader market structure legislation was still being finalized in the Senate in early 2026.

The comparison is now quite simple:

Canada suits you if: You want clear, consistent rules and strong consumer protection, even with fewer platforms and products available.
The US suits you if: You want more exchanges, deeper liquidity and a wider product range, and you can accept rules that are still being negotiated.

In short, Canada is optimized for safety and the US for scale, and most knowledgeable everyday investors will feel that difference the moment they open an account.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is crypto taxed in Canada compared with the United States?

Both treat crypto as property, not currency. In Canada, only 50% of a capital gain is taxable at your income rate. In the US, profits are taxed as short or long-term capital gains, depending on your holding period.

Can I use a US crypto exchange from Canada?

Usually not directly. Platforms register by jurisdiction, so many US exchanges restrict Canadian users, and Canadian platforms restrict Americans. Most people use an exchange licensed in their own country to stay compliant.

Can Canadians hold crypto in a TFSA or RRSP?

Yes, indirectly. You cannot hold coins directly, but Canadian-listed crypto ETFs can sit inside a TFSA or RRSP, which shelters gains from tax. US investors can hold crypto ETFs in retirement accounts like IRAs.

Is crypto legal in both Canada and the USA?

Yes. Crypto is legal in both and treated as a regulated asset, not legal tender. Canada classifies Bitcoin as a commodity, while the US splits oversight across agencies, including the SEC and CFTC.

Which cryptocurrency is most popular in North America?

Bitcoin, by a wide margin. About 74% of US crypto holders owned Bitcoin in 2026, though portfolios are slowly diversifying into Ethereum and other assets. The same Bitcoin-first pattern holds in Canada.