Asian Countries Dominate Chainalysis’ 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has just unveiled an excerpt of its “2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index,” revealing that Asian nations are top of the class in terms of the pace of crypto adoption.
The report extract published to the Chainalysis website brings into focus the remarkable strides made by a number of Asian countries, emerging as the front-runners in driving grassroots cryptocurrency adoption.
The index showcases the dominance of regions like Central and South Asia, along with the broader Oceania regions. Astonishingly, six of the top 10 countries on the index hail from this part of the world.
India takes top spot
India, in particular, shines as the torchbearer of cryptocurrency adoption in the region, securing its position as the largest cryptocurrency market. It not only leads the way in grassroots adoption but has also ascended to become the second-largest crypto market globally in terms of raw estimated transaction volume, eclipsing even some major global economies.
It’s interesting that India should find itself in this position when you consider that a number of measures have been taken that could have been expected to dampen adoption. The Indian authorities introduced a 30% tax on capital gains earned through the sale of digital assets, as well as a 1% tax on Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for all crypto transactions.
Last month, Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX specifically cited these tax burdens, combined with the recent bear market, as being contributing factors in its decision to cut its workforce by 12%. Another excerpt of the Chainalysis report explicitly refers to these measures and their potential to retard cryptocurrency use.
Adoption despite bear market
Despite a temporary downturn in worldwide grassroots cryptocurrency adoption, Chainalysis’ research finds that these developing Asian nations, have not only weathered the storm brought about by the recent bear market but have thrived, with their total grassroots adoption surpassing the levels of Q3 2020, just before the most recent bull market.
Other countries featuring in the top ten include Vietnam (third), the Philippines (sixth), Indonesia (seventh), Pakistan (eighth), and Thailand (tenth). China, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Japan then feature within the top twenty.
This data holds promise for the cryptocurrency landscape in the Asian region. Many of these nations are lower middle-income (LMI) countries that typically exhibit burgeoning industries and populations, collectively representing more than 40% of the global population. Chainalysis suggests that if these countries shape the future, cryptocurrencies are poised to play an indispensable role in shaping the global financial ecosystem.
Institutional adoption
The excerpt from the report also hints at the burgeoning trend of institutional adoption in high-income countries, even in the face of a lingering bear market. This suggests a potential dual-directional adoption scenario, where cryptocurrencies cater to the needs of users from both affluent and developing nations, bringing together a diverse spectrum of economic backgrounds.
The report takes an optimistic outlook, stating:
“Grassroots crypto adoption isn’t about which countries have the highest raw transaction volumes. . . . Instead, we want to highlight the countries where average, everyday people are embracing crypto the most.”
“If LMI countries are the future, then the data indicates that crypto is going to be a big part of that future.”
