Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the digital wallets of Italians are worth over 1 billion euros – Corriere.it

Italians keep over a billion cryptocurrencies in their digital wallets. what emerges from the first Oam report on the quarterly customer flows that the Vasp (Virtual asset service providers) must send to the Agents and Brokers Body. Overall, the identification data were sent to the Body e relating to the cryptocurrency transactions of 1,174,914 customers: of these, 59% (690,665 customers) held, on the last day of the reference quarter, cryptocurrencies in their portfolio for a countervalue in euro of 1,067,614,570, equal to an average value of 1,545.78 euro. In the same period, 1,758,823 legal to virtual currency conversion transactions were carried out (11.74 transactions per customer on average) and 1,573,691 virtual to legal currency conversion transactions (14.99 transactions per customer on average).

Young customers, but those over forty who invest

Oam data show that customers in the age group between 18 and 29 represent the largest share, equal to 40%, followed by customers aged between 30 and 39 (25%). The percentage weight decreases as the age range increases, reaching 1% for the over seventy year olds. If for one examines the amount of investment (both the total balances of legal and virtual currencies and the number and value of conversion transactions of legal currencies into virtual currencies, and vice versa) customers aged between 40 and 60 hold the primacy, with percentages around 50 percent.

Poland takes the lead in terms of number of operators

The report also shows that Italy is in second place, among the 10 European countries with the highest gross domestic product, for the number of service providers relating to the use of virtual currency and digital wallet service providers (Vasp). As of June 30, 2023, in the Oam register there were 114 Vasp registered, against the 768 of Poland, which holds the record, and the 78 of France, which instead ranks third. Overall, 1,116 virtual asset service providers are active in the 10 countries.

In Italy there are 127 physical points and 77 ATMs

On the operator side, the Vasps in the form of legal persons registered in the Special Section of the Oam Register also provide services to customers through physical points (127) and ATMs (77). The physical points are concentrated in Lombardy (18%), followed by Lazio (17%) and Tuscany (13%). Of the 74 operators who transmitted customer data, 53 companies can be classified as small (they transmitted information on fewer than 500 customers); 15 belong to the medium Exchange category (the information sent concerns a number of customers between 500 and 50 thousand) and only 6, classifiable as large, have transmitted data relating to over 50 thousand customers. On the customer side, 99.88% are natural persons and only 0.12% are legal persons, concentrated in the North and Center (46 and 30% respectively).

Identified 19 potentially abusive operators

On the front of the fight against unauthorized use, the Oam has identified 16 subjects who seem to carry out the activities of Vasp without being registered in the special register. In particular, 65 subjects were analysed, verifying that 25% of the sample (16 subjects out of 65) had an Internet site in Italian and 5% (3 subjects out of 65) a social network in Italian language. The main information on the subjects analyzed and the presence of any circumstantial elements of the performance of the reserved activity on the national territory in the absence of registration will be communicated to the Guardia di Finanza for the verifications of competence, the Oam informs.