Meetup offers some interesting insights into the size, location, and growth of various cryptocurrency communities based on their meetups across the globe. Unsurprisingly, Bitcoin sits at the top with more than 1.65 million people going to approximately 5,570 meetups.

Looking at the rest of the top 10 cryptocurrencies (by market cap) presents some surprises and offers a look into the organic growth and regional dominance of specific crypto communities.

The Top 10 Cryptocurrency Communities

Bitcoin has a substantial lead over any of the crypto communities behind it with nearly 500k more participants in meetups than Ethereum — who is second — and a globally diverse meetup spread.

Rounding out the top 10 cryptocurrencies are as follows:

1. Bitcoin – 1.65 million members and 5,583 meetups
2. Ethereum – 1.1 million members and 3,956 meetups
3. XRP – 8,621 members and 43 meetups
4. Bitcoin Cash – 11,810 members and 106 meetups
5. EOS – 60,481 members and 179 meetups
6. Stellar – 6,914 members and 19 meetups
7. Litecoin – 41,862 members and 133 meetups
8. Tether – N/A
9. Cardano – 15,264 members and 59 meetups
10. Monero – 19,832 members and 40 meetups

Tether is not applicable since it does not have any meetups on the site which is not surprising considering it is a fiat-collateralized stablecoin. On the front end, it is also important to note that Meetup is not a comprehensive list for meetup metrics of cryptocurrency communities.

However, the Ripple numbers are surprising considering its established network effects, large community following, and favorable position with legacy finance. Stellar has similarly low numbers in meetups and members, so perhaps there is a correlation with how meetups and events are organized with both platforms. Stellar is also a fork of Ripple, so they share many of the same characteristics, albeit Stellar has intentionally distanced itself from Ripple.

Coming in third is EOS followed by Litecoin. EOS has a large community following the launch of the platform and its record-setting ICO, so their position at third is not really surprising as it demonstrates organic growth by followers in the community. Litecoin has established network effects that are really only rivaled by Bitcoin and Ethereum so its position at fourth can be primarily attributed to its consistent position among the most well-known cryptocurrencies.

Geographic Insights

Analyzing the clusters of geographic locations for meetups of specific cryptocurrency communities also reveals some intriguing trends.

Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, and Ethereum all have global meetup audiences and are concentrated in the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Litecoin oddly has a sparse following in Southeast Asia despite its similar network effects to the former cryptocurrency communities.

The obvious takeaway from evaluating the geographic spread of meetups is the general absence of meetups in Africa, Central Asia (Russia included), and the Middle East. Outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the meetups in South America are mostly absent as well.

North America, Southeast Asia, and Europe dominate the global meetups for cryptocurrencies and demonstrate a significantly higher occurrence of Bitcoin and Ethereum than any other cryptocurrency. EOS shows signs of increasing organic growth but is still dwarfed by Bitcoin and Ethereum. Network effects have a substantial role to play in the size, dispersion, and growth of cryptocurrency communities. However, Bitcoin and Ethereum still dominate in global meetups among communities like Ripple that are known to have sizeable followings.

Bitcoin is only slightly smaller than the 1.74 million total members under the “Cryptocurrency” filter with 6,275 meetups across the globe, once again demonstrating its dominance in global network effects.