Crypto activity continues to flourish worldwide, according to a new cryptocurrency adoption index published by the blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis. The researchers compile onchain digital currency retail value transferred, onchain crypto deposits, peer-to-peer exchange volume, and other types of methodology.
Chainalysis recently published a new report called the “2020 Geography of Crypto,” a study that examines 154 countries and the flourishing cryptocurrency adoption in these areas. The company created a crypto adoption index from the large list of nation-states and only 12 countries had very little traction compared to the rest.
Nation-states that ranked the lowest in the adoption index include Afghanistan, Algeria, Cape Verde, Chad, Fiji, Laos, Libya, and Mongolia.
The top ten countries are ranked by four individual metrics that are combined to create the official ranking. The top country, as far as onchain value received, onchain retail value received, number of onchain deposits, and peer-to-peer trade volume is the Ukraine.
This country is followed by Russia, Venezuela, China, Kenya, U.S., South Africa, Nigeria, Colombia, and Vietnam respectively. “Cryptocurrency is truly global,” the Chainalysis report notes. “Developing countries have high grassroots cryptocurrency activity,” the study adds.
Chainalysis continues by adding:
Venezuela is an excellent example of what drives cryptocurrency adoption in developing countries and how citizens use [crypto] to mitigate economic instability— Venezuelans use cryptocurrency more when the country’s native fiat currency loses value to inflation.
The study emphasizes that the wealth preservation tactic is leveraged in Africa and East Asia as well. Moreover, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchanges are essential to digital currency adoption in developing nations, Chainalysis highlights.
In the section that covers Africa, the blockchain intelligence firm says both remittances and currency devaluation is what’s driving crypto adoption throughout the large continent. The study notes that major cryptocurrency trading platforms now look at Africa as an “opportunity.”
Chainalysis details that in Africa regions like Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa have been seeing more adoption than other areas throughout the continent. Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) is also covered in the Chainalysis study and researchers say growth is “already strong.”
The CSAO area is seeing a number of cryptocurrency regulations adopted within a variety of countries. CSAO is the fifth-most active region worldwide when it comes to cryptocurrency activity and it’s seen over $41 billion sent and $40 billion received during the last 12 months.
East Asia is the world’s largest crypto market, in terms of crypto activity, capturing 31% of all the digital currency transactions in the last year. Crypto addresses stemming from East Asia accounted for $107 billion received.
East Asia’s cumulated data is 77% larger than the crypto activity in Northern and Western Europe. East Asia is dominated by “pro traders” and “stablecoins,” the Chainalysis report highlights. Stablecoin usage in East Asia is “off the charts” in comparison to other regions worldwide.
Eastern Europe has the fourth-largest crypto activity rating globally, and it also contains the top two countries represented in the Chainalysis’ crypto adoption index: Ukraine and Russia. “Eastern Europe shows a strong grassroots-level of cryptocurrency adoption,” Chainalysis notes.
One reason Russia and Ukraine take the cake, as far as cryptocurrency activity is concerned, is because adoption has come “amidst regulatory uncertainty.” For instance, Chainalysis says that Ukraine has zero crypto regulations, but the government just started monitoring crypto activity.
Latin America is smaller in terms of onchain activity, and cryptocurrency adoption is low in contrast to the aforementioned regions. Latin America…
Read More:East Asia Dominates World’s Onchain Crypto Activity, Europe and North America
