Approximately 32.5% of Australian adults, or around 6.5 million people, currently own or have owned cryptocurrency.
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The Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI) data shows 11% of them own Ethereum.
That's second to Bitcoin at 70%. A big difference, yes.
But America, arguably the leader in cryptocurrency, with 65.7 million people owning cryptocurrency, only 28% of them hold Ethereum.
Despite dropping 65% from the December 2021 peak of $4,095 (USD) and dipping below $1,500, outpacing Bitcoin's 23% decline (same month), ETH AUD is cautiously climbing.
Now at $5,540.95 ($3,598.27 USD), we'll explore 5 reasons why Ethereum is gaining ground among Australian crypto users.
The Trump Effect
Dubbed the 'Donald Trump' effect, he's changing how Australian investors see crypto.
Love him or hate him, after being elected president again, he promised sweeping changes that include a national crypto reserve and a dedicated advisory council.
Bitcoin hit A$175,000 after his win, and his meme coin launch sent markets into another rally.
And it's not only about prices.
The divide between investors and non-investors is stark.
Half of all crypto investors believe Trump is good for crypto.
Just 6% disagree. Among non-investors, only 22% see him positively ( IRCI data ).
There's a direct link between how much someone invests and their view of Trump.
Looking at IRCI data, 78% of investors putting in more than $10,000 a month believe Trump is good for crypto.
Smaller investors are more cautious, but even 44% of those putting in under $100 a month agree that Trump helps crypto.
Among investors who believe the financial system is broken, 76% view Trump as a positive force. And not one of them believes he’s bad for crypto.
Overall, 31% of Australians say Trump is good for crypto. Just 8% say he’s bad.
The rest are unsure.
Men are more likely to support Trump’s impact on crypto, with 40% viewing him positively.
That number drops to 22% among women.
But gender aside, the data shows clear momentum.
Investors are more optimistic than ever.
Trump’s stance on decentralization and his promises for crypto-friendly policy are resonating across Australia and with Ethereum investors who have more trust in the market.
The Trusted Ethereum Ecosystem
Ethereum became the backbone of global decentralized finance.
From Robinhood to BlackRock, major institutional investors are building Ethereum’s rails.
Stablecoins, tokenized stocks, and global payments—all are being wired into the Ethereum infrastructure.
Robinhood, for example, now offers tokenized U.S. equities via Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution designed to enhance your Ethereum experience.
Deutsche Bank is building a tokenization platform on zkSync.
Coinbase is launching tokenized stocks and prediction markets on Optimism.
And stablecoins like USDC settle most of their volume on Ethereum. In 2024, stablecoin transactions topped $28 trillion.
That’s more than Mastercard and Visa combined.
Even with faster chains emerging, Ethereum has remained the most trusted platform for programmable finance. Institutional leaders say it's about security, stability, and global reach.
With ten years of upgrades and no major failures, Ethereum now powers everything from DeFi to digital identity.
Improvements to Ethereum's Network
Ethereum 2.0 marked a shift that the industry had waited years for.
With the move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, Ethereum now runs cleaner and more efficiently.
Energy use dropped by over 99%. Validators now earn rewards by staking ETH instead of mining.
Transactions are faster, fees are lower, and more users can participate without being priced out.
The introduction of sharding, a scalability solution that involves dividing the network into smaller, independent "shards" or chains, also helped network capacity and transaction speed.
By splitting the network into smaller sections, Ethereum can process many more transactions in parallel.
That means reduced congestion, even during peak times.
Then came Pectra, the latest major Ethereum upgrade.
The May 2025 upgrade added powerful new features.
EIP-7702 introduced smart account functionality. EIP-7251 raised the validator staking limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH.
And EIP-7691 expanded the number of data blobs per block, reducing fees on layer twos.
These changes help simplify user flows.
Wallets no longer need native ETH to pay for gas.
Users can delegate permissions, and developers can create dApps with smoother interactions.
With these advances, Ethereum is easier to use, safer to stake, and more scalable than ever before—Australians were bound to gravitate towards it.
Increased Awareness of Cryptocurrencies
Crypto awareness in Australia hit 95% in 2024. It hasn’t dropped since.
Ethereum now ranks as the second most recognized cryptocurrency in the country. Awareness is steady at 39%. Dogecoin follows close behind at 35%.
Meme coins continue to drive public interest. 39% of Australians said they recognized at least one meme coin from the IRCI data.
And many of them run on the Ethereum network, including Shiba Inu and PEPE.
With that, even if someone hasn’t invested, they’re likely familiar with what Ethereum is or what it does.
That recognition leads to faster adoption once wallets and platforms become easier to use.
Improved Cryptocurrency Platforms and Wallets
Crypto wallets started as desktop applications.
Then came mobile wallets, web wallets, and hardware wallets.
Each shift made crypto more accessible.
Now, wallets let users trade, stake, lend, and even borrow.
Most wallets also offer biometric security. Others have built-in exchanges or NFT storage.
And modern wallets now integrate directly with dApps.
They support cross-chain compatibility and provide features like social recovery and multi-signature approvals.
Most of them also include real-time price tracking, tax reporting, and even AI-powered alerts.
There has also been a massive improvement in app interfaces.
Menus are cleaner, features are easier to find, and mobile apps work across devices. Accessibility settings are built in.
The best wallets include:
- Exodus
- Meta Mask
- Electrum
- TrustWallet
The barrier to entry has never been lower for Australians curious about Ethereum.
Ethereum is a staple.
Unlike meme coins and emerging altcoins, Ethereum is a long-standing, trustworthy cryptocurrency.
Australians and global investors are more likely to trust a coin with this much credibility.
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