The U.S. cryptocurrency industry directly employs approximately 34,000 people and supports an estimated 232,000 jobs across the broader economy in 2026, according to a new report commissioned by the National Cryptocurrency Association. The study, conducted by Pragmatic Policy Group, estimates that crypto-related activity will contribute more than $55 billion to U.S. gross domestic product and approximately $31 billion in worker income. As reported by the NCA, this economic contribution represents significant growth from the industry's $23.22 billion revenue estimate sourced from Statista. The industry's $55 billion GDP contribution has now surpassed traditional sectors like coffee and tea manufacturing and cement manufacturing, demonstrating the sector's growing economic significance. However, a key caveat in the analysis is that most supported jobs sit outside crypto companies themselves, with 75,000 jobs coming from supplier industries and 123,000 from household spending effects, reflecting standard multiplier effects rather than direct crypto employment. The report also notes that of the $55 billion total economic contribution, roughly $31 billion is worker income, highlighting the sector's direct impact on American wages.
Software, blockchain and data engineering form the largest direct job group with approximately 10,100 roles, followed by compliance, finance and business operations accounting for 5,450 positions and executives and managers comprising about 5,100 roles. The study also includes 2,470 sales and business development positions, 1,480 hardware and systems engineering jobs, and 1,160 legal and regulatory roles. According to the report, the average annual wage across all supported jobs stands at $133,000, significantly higher than the $64,000 national median wage. This direct employment has now surpassed traditional manufacturing sectors, highlighting the crypto industry's transformation into a significant economic force. The occupational mix reflects the approach that most supported jobs sit outside crypto companies, with office and administrative support ranking as the largest category at 29,260 positions, followed by business and financial operations at 21,650, management at 20,890, transportation and material moving at 18,560, and food preparation and serving at 16,910. The report also places the average crypto-related job at $133,000 annually, more than double the national median of $64,000, ranking above other high-paying fields such as information and technology at $104,000 and manufacturing at $76,000.
California accounts for an estimated 57,649 supported jobs, while New York contributes 53,766 jobs, with the two states representing close to half of the national total. Texas follows with 26,536 jobs, Washington has 15,097 jobs, and North Carolina contributes 9,524 jobs. The report indicates that every direct crypto job supports approximately six other jobs across the broader U.S. economy, with these roles spanning cloud services, legal services, insurance, housing, transportation and restaurants. The 12 states classified as the Heartland support more than 17,000 jobs combined, with Colorado accounting for about 5,797 supported jobs and $1.3 billion in economic contribution. The distribution is uneven, with California, New York, and Texas holding 60% of US crypto jobs, followed by Washington and North Carolina. The study uses 2024 Bureau of Economic Analysis input-output tables and Bureau of Labor Statistics data to model the industry's economic footprint, mapping crypto businesses into existing sectors including securities, commodity contracts, and data processing. The model assumes that 2024 production relationships remain in place for the economic projections, providing a comprehensive view of the crypto industry's integrated role in the U.S. economy.
The report estimates that the 12 states classified as the Heartland support more than 17,000 jobs combined, with Colorado accounting for about 5,797 supported jobs and $1.3 billion in economic contribution. Colorado's position is linked to Denver hosting 131 blockchain firms backed by $571 million in investment as of 2025 and to the state accepting crypto for tax payments. North Dakota supports 813 jobs and $154 million in economic contribution, citing Atlas Power's proposed 700MW facility and the Bank of North Dakota's planned USD-backed Roughrider Coin with Fiserv. Because crypto is not classified as a standalone industry in the Bureau of Economic Analysis framework, PPG mapped firms to existing sectors such as securities and commodity contracts, credit intermediation, and data processing and internet publishing. The study also states that its occupational allocation is a modeling assumption based on technology-oriented sectors, and that the model assumes production relationships and industry structure hold at 2024 levels.
The NCA released this study while employment trends inside individual crypto companies remain mixed, with Gemini, Crypto.com and Algorand among firms announcing workforce cuts in early 2026. More recently, Exodus cut about 25% of its workforce as it reorganized around stablecoin payments, while Polygon Labs also reduced staff during its Coinme integration. However, the NCA President and Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty called the sector a 'real, positive' contributor to American jobs, wages and economic growth, noting that a separate NCA survey estimated more than 67 million U.S. adults now own crypto. The industry's direct employment of 34,000 people has now surpassed traditional manufacturing sectors, demonstrating its maturation into a significant economic contributor. Pragmatic Policy Group's chief economist Oliver Browne notes that each direct crypto job generates around six additional roles across the wider economy, while the association emphasizes that the findings are based on PPG's independent analysis despite the research being funded by the NCA. The report also highlights that crypto's economic weight now extends well beyond trading, reaching into wages, supplier industries, and household spending across the country, with the total figure accounting for direct, indirect, and induced jobs, not just crypto company payrolls.
