From July 2021 to June 2022, 37% of total cryptocurrency transaction volume in North America was attributed to the DeFi segment, which indirectly contributed to a reduction in Bitcoin’s dominance. This is according to data from analytics firm Chainalysis.
The region topped DeFi popularity, surpassing Western Europe (31%) and Africa (13%).
Experts attributed this to the fact that farming and trading on DEX attract mainly large investors based in developed countries.
The active deployment of DeFi has indirectly led to Bitcoin’s dominance in North America to shrink more than in other regions over the past year.
Examining the popularity of individual services, experts found that DEXs lead in total value traded, but lag significantly behind NFTs in site traffic and the number of transfers.
“NFTs lead in mass adoption and attract new cryptocurrency users. On the other hand, DEXs with their large transfers and high transaction volumes appear to be used more often by professional and institutional users,” Chainalysis concluded.
In most quarters, North American activity fluctuated more quickly than in the rest of the world, largely due to swings in DeFi usage. At times this effect was enough for North America’s transaction volume to move in the opposite direction to the rest of the world.
Despite volatility and risk in DeFi, the best-known decentralized protocols have weathered the bear market and continue to attract investments. Chainalysis suggested that if current trends persist, new projects will gain even greater traction in the region.
To date, according to analysts’ estimates, North America is the second-largest cryptocurrency market. In the period studied, the region processed transactions totaling $1.15 trillion, or 19% of global activity for that period. The vast majority of transactions were in the United States.
Earlier ForkLog reported that Ukraine ranked third in Chainalysis’s 2022 cryptocurrency adoption ranking. Vietnam topped the list, with the Philippines second. Russia ranked ninth, with China closing out the top ten.
In October, Chainalysis assessed the dynamics of cryptocurrency transfers in Ukraine and Russia since the start of the war.
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