Bitget Wallet, a self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet owned by the Bitget exchange, has overtaken its biggest competitor, MetaMask, by downloads last month.
According to data from the crypto analytics platform CryptoRank, the Bitget Wallet app amassed 1.6 million downloads in July 2024, beating MetaMask by 100,000 downloads.
Other top 10 wallets by the number of downloads included Phantom Wallet with 667,000 downloads, Coinbase Wallet with 475,000 downloads and Animoca Brands-backed SafePal with 157,000 downloads.
Source: CryptoRank
Bitget Wallet’s growth came from memecoin trading, TON support and more
Bitget Wallet’s downloads have seen a huge surge in 2024, jumping more than 1,100% from just 130,000 downloads in January, according to Data.ai records seen by Cointelegraph.
Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet, linked the wallet’s rapid growth to the increased onchain trading, particularly memecoins, which saw massive transaction flows over the course of 2024.
Kan told Cointelegraph that Bitget Wallet also gained many users from The Open Network (TON) ecosystem, as it was one of the first wallets to support the TON mainnet fully.
In July 2024, TON became the most transacted network on Bitget Wallet, surpassing other chains such as Polygon, Arbitrum and BNB Smart Chain.
BitGet Wallet’s downloads year-to-date. Source: Data.ai
Among other growth triggers, Kan mentioned the Bitget Wallet Token (BWB) launch in March 2024.
“Since the introduction of BWB, Bitget Wallet’s user base has expanded by over 50% to 30 million, driven by increased participation in governance, staking and ecosystem airdrops,” Kan stated.
Kan added that the launch of BWB has also contributed to higher trading volumes and broader user interaction, particularly in key markets such as Japan and Nigeria.
Italy, Australia and Sweden are among the fastest-growing countries on Bitget Wallet
According to data from Bitget Wallet, the app currently boasts users from more than 186 countries and regions and has been actively onboarding new users across all continents.
In the first half of 2024, Italy, Australia and Sweden were the fastest-growing countries by app downloads, adding 7,500%, 5,300% and 5,200% in downloads since the first half of 2023, respectively.
Other fast-growing countries using Bitget Wallet include the Philippines, Russia and Japan, which experienced 4,600%, 4,400% and 2,100% growth over the same period, respectively.
“We emphasize the mobile experience to push for mass adoption, as Web3 users often find it inconvenient to use plugin wallets on computers,” Bitget Wallet’s Kan noted, adding:
“We believe decentralized trading will become mainstream in the Web3 industry, with payments being a key application for wallets.”
MetaMask is already downloaded for most Web3 users, community suggests
Launched in 2018, Bitget Wallet was formerly known as BitKeep. The Bitget exchange rebranded the wallet in August 2023 after purchasing a controlling stake for $30 million.
Reacting to the news, many social media users expressed surprise that Bitget Wallet managed to beat MetaMask in downloads, with some reporting that they had never heard of it.
On the other hand, other users suggested that most crypto users have already downloaded MetaMask, so it’s no surprise that other wallets like Bitget get more downloads.
Some commenters also complained about issues on MetaMask’s mobile app, compared to better experience with the browser extension.
According to the records by Data.ai, MetaMask’s downloads have surged 77% year-to-date, starting 2024 at around 900,000 downloads per month.