Crypto Adoption by Country in 2024
The adoption of cryptocurrency has seen a meteoric rise in the last decade around the world. The trend of the global embrace of cryptocurrencies continues to accelerate in 2024. It's primarily driven by technological innovations, economic challenges, and, to an extent, the quest for financial inclusivity.
The journey of cryptocurrency adoption hasn't been smooth, however. Many governments are wary of it and have introduced strict regulations restricting crypto or even banning it outright. On the other hand, some countries are going the other way and enact more supportive regulations.
In addition to legal environments, society, culture, and perceptions also play roles in crypto adoptions - both positive and negative.
In this guide, we'll examine crypto adoption trends worldwide, the top countries leading the adoption of crypto, and the specific use cases by country. We'll also explore the key opportunities and challenges of crypto adoption and what we might expect in the future. Let's learn more about this.
In This Guide- Global Crypto Adoption Trends
- Top Countries Leading Crypto Adoption
- Crypto Adoption by Region
- Key Challenges & Opportunities for Cryptocurrency Adoption
- Sources
- Global Crypto Adoption Trends
- Top Countries Leading Crypto Adoption
- Crypto Adoption by Region
- Key Challenges & Opportunities for Cryptocurrency Adoption
- Sources Global Crypto Adoption Trends
https://youtu.be/ekxvrOXERbA?si=xE1o6ICIjx1l9va4
Before we dive into crypto adoption by country, we'd like to take a look at the global crypto adoption trends.
2023 was a significant year for cryptocurrency adoption. In September 2023, a pivotal decision was made at the G20 summit. Rather than banning cryptocurrency outright, the nations decided to push for global coordination of cryptocurrency regulations.
Different countries and international organizations are currently taking steps to implement the decision made at the event. One of them is advancing the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF).
These steps towards international recognition of crypto, together with various countries embracing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), are evidence of the global regulatory environment becoming more accepting of cryptocurrency and recognizing it as a valuable economic tool.
In the summer of 2023, the world saw 420 million cryptocurrency owners. Moreover, the number of brands that accept crypto payments, such as Ferrari, grew significantly in 2023.
In 2023,three times as many in-person businessesaccepted Bitcoin as a payment method compared to the year before.
These stats suggest the trend of mainstream cryptocurrency integration worldwide. Although the market share of cryptocurrency as a payment method is mostly below 3% worldwide, it may very well go up in the next few years if the trends continue developing on the same trajectory.
Top Countries Leading Crypto AdoptionHere is the breakdown of the top ten countries that are leading cryptocurrency adoption in 2023.
Country Percentage of the population that are crypto owners The absolute number of crypto owners India 6.55% 93.5 million China 4.15% 59.1 million USA 15.56% 52.9 million Brazil 12% 26 million Vietnam 21.2% 20.9 million Pakistan 6.6% 15.9 million Philippines 13.4% 15.8 million Nigeria 5.93% 13.3 million Indonesia 4.4% 12.2 million Russia 6.1% 8.7 million Mexico 6.55% 8.4 million Thailand 9.61% 6.9 million Japan 4.13% 5.1 million Turkey 5.62% 4.8 million Argentina 9.73% 4.45 million Bangladesh 2.5% 4.3 million UK 5.74% 3.9 million Ukraine 10.57% 3.9 million Canada 7% 2.7 million Morocco 5.1% 1.9 million As you can see from the above table, the adoption of crypto is most prevalent in Asia and Africa, although the USA had the highest percentage of ownership, relative to the general population, in 2023. In Europe, the only three countries in the top 20 are Russia, Ukraine, and the UK. None of the top 20 countries are located in the EU.
Crypto Adoption by RegionIn this section, we'll take a closer look at the regional adoption of cryptocurrency.
EMEA
Like this infographic? Feel free to use it on your website or blog, but please remember to give us creditAfrica is a region with a relatively significant level of cryptocurrency adoption. As of 2023, Nigeria had the most crypto adopters on the continent, at 13.3 million (5.93% of the population), followed by Morocco (1.9 million).Chainalysis' cryptocurrency adoption indexranks Nigeria at0.642 on a scale between 0 and 1.Morocco's index is 0.069.
In Europe, Ukraine has the highest cryptocurrency adoption index of 0.215, with a 10.57% adoption rate and 3.9 million adoptees. Russia and the UK are second and third in the region, with indexes of 0.140 and 0.121, respectively. Norway and Denmark have the lowest indexes of 0.004.
The Americas
As we've seen in the above section, the United States is a major cryptocurrency adopter in the Americas. With almost 16% of the population (52.9 million) possessing cryptocurrency assets, the USearneda cryptocurrency adoption index of0.367 in 2023-the highest in the Western Hemisphere.
The other two countries with a high level of cryptocurrency adoption in the region are Brazil and Argentina.Brazil's 2023 index is0.163,and almost26 million people usecrypto. Argentina's 2023 index is 0.106, and it has approximately 4.45 million crypto users (almost 10% of the population).
The USA's northern and southern neighbors, Canada and Mexico, are both in the top 20 global crypto adopters. Canada has an index of0.069 and 2.7 million crypto users. Mexico's index is higher-0.097-andit has almost 8.5 million cryptocurrency adopters.
APAC
Like this infographic? Feel free to use it on your website or blog, but please remember to give us creditThe Asian region is a leader in cryptocurrency adoption, with over 260 million crypto owners. As we specified in the section above, India and China are currently leading the way worldwide. India has the world's highest cryptocurrency adoption index of 1, with 6.55% of its population, which is 93.5 million people, having adopted cryptocurrency.
Vietnam has the second-highest adoption index in the region,at0.568. As of 2023, over21% of the Vietnamese population had adopted cryptocurrency. The Philippines is in third place in APAC, with an index of0.208. And, as you can see from the infographic above, Pakistan, Indonesia,and Thailand aren't far behind.
Key Challenges & Opportunities for Cryptocurrency Adoption
StatistaWhen it comes to cryptocurrency adoption, there are several challenges standing in the way of it becoming more widespread. However, these challenges go hand-in-hand with opportunities that can come from crypto adoption. In this section, we'll examine both challenges and opportunities.
Lack of Regulatory Clarity
CoinGeckoAs is often the case with technological innovations, the development of cryptocurrency has significantly outpaced the development of relevant legislative frameworks. As a result, there's a lot of legal uncertainty surrounding the legal landscape of cryptocurrency.
As of 2024, cryptocurrency is legal in 119 countries. However, some of these countries have imposed certain restrictions.
In 2021, El Salvador became the first country to legalize cryptocurrency by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender. To this day, it's the only country where crypto is an officially recognized medium of exchange.
While Bitcoin has become legal in other countries, including the UK and the US, the regulations are still unclear in many parts of the world. That's a particularly acute issue for economic players because, even though crypto is legal in many countries, some countries, such as Argentina, Nigeria, and UAE, have banned banks from working with crypto exchanges or users.
In some countries, the bans and restrictions on cryptocurrency haven't been as effective as intended. For instance, China, where it's illegal to use cryptocurrency, has one of the highest crypto adoption rates in the Asian market.
Security & Scam Concerns
Like this infographic? Feel free to use it on your website or blog, but please remember to give us creditAmong the challenges impacting cryptocurrency adoption is one that's becoming more and more prevalent. We're talking about security and scam concerns.
Although blockchain technology is very secure bynature, crypto exchanges, and individual wallets are not immune to hacking. Over $1.7 billionin cryptowas stolen by hackers in 2023 aloneand $3.8 billion in 2022. The largest crypto hack to date was the Ronin Network hack in 2022 when the malicious actors stole $625 million worth of cryptocurrency from the Axie Infinity Platform.
It's, therefore, no surprise that such vulnerabilities to hacks serve as a deterrent to widespread cryptocurrency adoption. However, it's the users who are the most vulnerable of all. Social engineering, phishing and malware are common methods for fraudsters to scam people with false promises of crypto.
The recent FTX case, which resulted in the incarceration of the founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, robbed people of some $8 billion over the years, making it the biggest crypto scam of all time.
Cryptocurrency is not a get-rich-quick scheme, and understanding how cryptocurrency investments work requires education and effort.
Financial InclusionAs we mentioned earlier in this section, cryptocurrency is a market full of challenges, but it also brings about new opportunities. One such opportunity is the democratization of access to finance, or financial inclusion.
Bank services as we know them are limited or even non-existent in certain parts of the world, and if they do, some parts of the population might not be able to access their services for different reasons.
Cryptocurrency adoption can help bridge that gap by allowing people to create accounts and trade on platforms with less rigorous identity requirements. It can also allow for more seamless money transfers without strenuous checks by the banks.
DeFiDecentralized Finance, or DeFi, is an opportunity to develop fintech solutions that work well in modern society. Financial solutions that don't require intermediaries can include many financial products, ranging from lending and borrowing to peer-to-peer transfers. Thanks to transparent blockchain technology, the risk of fraud is reduced, as all the transactions are visible.
Therefore, the availability of DeFi worldwide can facilitate the global adoption of cryptocurrency, which is part of the decentralized finance ecosystem.
Wrapping UpAs we saw in this guide, interest in cryptocurrency is on the rise worldwide, and only time will tell whether it'll ever be adopted globally. At the moment, it only makes up an average of 3% of the payment tools market in most countries, so there's a long road ahead.
On the other hand, the steps taken by different jurisdictions to legalize cryptocurrency send a clear signal that the economy is becoming more receptive to the phenomenon. We saw that first-hand with El Salvador's world-first acceptance of Bitcoin as legal tender, and we're seeing it now with other legislative initiatives.
Moreover, the increased adoption of crypto in financial powerhouses like the US and India, as well as its growth in emerging markets like Nigeria, are very telling. For that reason, economists and marketers across industries should be paying close attention to the global adoption and legalization of cryptocurrency and its consequences.
Sources- Share of respondents who indicated they either owned or used cryptocurrencies in 56 countries and territories worldwide from 2019 to 2024 (Statista)
- Market share of cryptocurrency compared to other payment methods in selected countries across the world as of 2023 (Statista)
- Crypto Adoption Index ranking of Spain from 2020 to 2023, by metric (Statista)
- Crypto Adoption Index ranking of Germany from 2020 to 2023, by metric (Statista)
- Crypto Adoption Index ranking of Sweden from 2020 to 2023, by metric (Statista)
- Where the World Regulates Cryptocurrency (Statista)
- Total value of cryptocurrency lost to and recovered from theft and other attacks between March 2020 and February 2022 (Statista)
- Number of identity-verified cryptoasset users from 2016 to November 2023 (Statista)
- 20 Countries with the Highest Cryptocurrency Adoption (Yahoo Finance)
- In-person businesses accepting bitcoin nearly tripled in 2023 (The Block)
- G20 Set to Crystalize Global Crypto Rules as India Wraps Up Presidency (CoinDesk)
- Global Crypto Adoption Report 2023 : A Pivotal Year for Crypto Acceptance Worldwide (CoinPedia)
- The world's fastest crypto adopting countries (TRT World)
- The 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index: Central & Southern Asia Are Leading the Way in Grassroots Crypto Adoption (Chainalysis)
- 5 Countries with the Highest Cryptocurrency Adoption (Insider Monkey)
- Six months in, El Salvador's bitcoin gamble is crumbling (Rest of World)
- Countries Where Cryptocurrency Is Legal vs Illegal (CoinGecko)
- Countries Where Bitcoin Is Legal and Illegal (Investopedia)
- The Largest Cryptocurrency Hacks So Far (Investopedia)
- Samuel Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years for His Orchestration of Multiple Fraudulent Schemes (DOJ)
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