Chainalysis has released its annual ranking of countries based on their affinity for bitcoin, stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies.
A ranking focused on mass adoption
The objective of the classification carried out by Chainalysis is simple:
“We combine data to measure which countries are leading the adoption of cryptocurrencies locally. But it’s not about which countries have the highest gross transaction volumes. It is easy to guess that the largest and richest countries are far ahead. Instead, our ranking highlights countries with the widest adoption among ordinary people. We designed the Global Crypto Adoption Index to highlight countries where the greatest number of people are investing the largest share of their wealth in cryptocurrencies. »
Chainalysis ranked 155 countries based on five key metrics, all weighted by purchasing power parity. What is the comparison to “purchasing power parity”?
Purchasing power parity is a method used in economics to compare countries based on the real purchasing power of their national currencies, which cannot be done simply by using exchange rates. This method uses an exchange rate that equalizes the cost of living.
All ranking results are therefore weighted according to the size of the population and their real local purchasing power. The classification is then carried out by taking the geometric average of the score obtained for each of the five parameters.
Parameters taken into account
-Amount of cryptocurrencies received on centralized exchanges, weighted by purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita.
In other words, if two countries receive equal amounts of cryptocurrencies on their exchanges, the country with the lowest PPP per capita would rank first.
-Amount of cryptocurrencies received on centralized exchanges by small holders, weighted by PPP per capita.
The objective of this data is to evaluate the activity of individual non-professional users. Only amounts received in retail transactions are counted (transactions worth less than $10,000 in cryptocurrency).
-Peer-to-peer (P2P) volume, weighted by PPP per capita and the number of internet users.
P2P transaction volume represents a significant percentage of all cryptocurrency activity in emerging markets. The aim is to highlight countries where more of their global wealth is spent on P2P transactions.
The other two parameters are linked to the amounts received by DEFI (Decentralized Finance).
Crypto Ranking 2023
Chainalysis notes that mass adoption is still far from its all-time highs. But this is not the case everywhere. The recovery is much stronger in lower middle income countries (between $1000 and $4000 per year). That is to say countries like Nigeria, India, Thailand, and even Ukraine.
“This could be extremely promising since these countries are often booming countries, with dynamic and growing industries and populations. And, perhaps most importantly, 40% of the world’s population lives in these countries », we can read in the report.
“This, combined with the fact that institutional adoption (primarily led by investment funds located in high-income countries #ETFs) continues to gain traction, provides reason for optimism about the future. »
Other interesting information:
-A quarter of cryptocurrencies were sucked up by North America between June 2022 and June 2023. The equivalent of 1,200 billion dollars.
Latin America: 7% (mainly Argentina, Brazil, Mexico)
Western Europe : 18% (UK, Germany, Spain, France)
Eastern Europe: 9% (Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic)
Central and Southern Asia and Oceania: 19% (India, Vietnam, Thailand)
East Asia: 9% (South Korea, Japan, China)
Middle East and North Africa : 7% (Türkiye, UAE, Saudi Arabia)
Sub-Saharan Africa : 2% (Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya)
-Stablecoins went from 70% to 49% of on-chain transaction volume in North America.
-That said, globally, stablecoin remains the most widely used cryptocurrency. Half of all on-chain transaction volumes to or from exchanges took place in stablecoins. And over 90% of stablecoin activity takes place in dollar-backed stablecoins.
-“Cryptocurrencies are commonplace in Argentina. About 5 million people [sur 46 millions] use them,” says CEO of the Lemon Cash exchange Martel Seward.
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