The global digital asset adoption index in 2020 rose by 880%. The main driver was the desire of residents in developing countries to preserve savings from the devaluation of their national currencies, analysts at Chainalysis noted.
THREAD: Here’s a quick summary of the key findings from our 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index. https://t.co/BEOzYvxVNf
— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) August 18, 2021
The dataset covered indicators from 154 countries.
According to the study, residents of developing nations turned to cryptocurrency to safeguard their savings from currency devaluation, to make remittances and to conduct business.
In North America, Western Europe and East Asia, institutional investments were the main driver.
The components of the index are PPP-adjusted per capita indicators:
- on-chain value realized;
- the same metric for retail investors (<$10,000);
- trading volume on P2P platforms.
Experts sought to highlight countries with the greatest use of cryptocurrencies by ordinary citizens and to focus on payments and individual savings rather than trading and speculation.
As shown in the chart below, the top five were Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Ukraine and Kenya. The United States fell from fourth to eighth, and China from eighth to thirteenth. Russia ranked eighteenth.
The high standing of Kenya, Nigeria, Vietnam and Venezuela is linked to large volumes of P2P transactions adjusted for PPP per capita. Residents of these countries face limited access to Bitcoin exchanges.
«There are capital controls in many developing markets. Cryptocurrencies give people a way to bypass these restrictions», analysts explained.
The opposite trend for citizens of the United States and China led to lower positions in the rankings for those countries. In this component, China ranked last (last year—53), United States—109 (16).
The turning point is repression by authorities in the first case and the rising share of trading by professional and institutional investors in the second.
In conclusion, experts concluded that cryptocurrencies have become a truly global phenomenon. In developed countries, as well as in markets with mature crypto infrastructure, activity on Bitcoin exchanges and DEX is booming, while in developing countries P2P platforms play the role of the primary conduit.
As reported in Crypto.com counted 221 million cryptocurrency users by the end of the first half. According to their estimates, the figure has more than doubled since the start of the year.
In June, Chainalysis experts placed Russia and Ukraine in the fifth and tenth places in the ranking of countries with the highest earnings from Bitcoin in 2020.
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