Crypto Industry to Contribute $55B to US Economy in 2026: NCA Study

Research from the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA), an organization backed by Ripple Labs, broke down the economic impact of the entire crypto industry on the United States, estimating that salaries, worker spending and output will have contributed $55 billion this year.

According to a report released Wednesday by the Pragmatic Policy Group on behalf of the NCA, the total economic contribution was based on direct, indirect and induced employment. Of the sectors to benefit from crypto’s economic contributions, the NCA said that investments in securities and commodity contracts were among the highest at $9.7 billion, while housing and real estate were a combined $4.8 billion. 

The research found that about 34,000 people in the US were directly employed by crypto companies, accounting for just a fraction of the 232,000 jobs supported by the industry across the entire economy. This would mean crypto companies directly employ more Americans than the coffee and tea manufacturing and aerospace industries, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The crypto industry’s growing employment footprint in the US. Source: NCA

Related: Goldman Sachs CEO backs ‘not perfect’ CLARITY Act as vote expected soon

Among the individual US states, Texas, Washington, North Carolina, California and New York employed the most people involved in the industry, but Colorado was a “growing blockchain hub” based on friendly regulatory policies, according to the economic report. The NCA added that North Dakota was “becoming an energy-integrated digital infrastructure hub” due to the state’s tax laws favoring crypto mining and favorable flare gas policies.

The NCA launched in March 2025 as a non-profit organization focused on consumer crypto education, with $50 million in backing from Ripple. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s chief legal officer, heads the group.

The industry experienced multiple shutdowns in 2026

Several projects tied to digital assets announced they would be shuttering operations this year for various reasons, including difficulty with scaling and market conditions.

Entropy, a crypto start-up based in New York, said in January that it would shut down after four years in operation. Dmail, a decentralized email platform based in Singapore, began ceasing operations in May, citing expenses on bandwidth, storage and computing. Decentralized autonomous organization governance platform Tally and Balancer Labs also shuttered in March.

Magazine: Will the US get CLARITY this week? Bitcoin’s new $80K target: Hodler’s Digest, July 19