Asia is a crypto bright spot amid global slump, report finds

As the bear market continues to drag down global cryptocurrency adoption, Asia remains the leader in digital asset usage.This is based on a annual report Blockchain analytics firm Chainaanalysis found that six of the 10 countries with the highest cryptocurrency adoption rates are in Central Asia, South Asia and Oceania, including India, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.

As the crypto industry struggles to get back on its feet after the FTX collapse in November, Chainaanalysis’ findings reflect an evolving argument: crypto is a global story. The report found that countries classified as “low- and middle-income” by the World Bank have recovered fastest in terms of adoption rates, or total cryptocurrency transaction volume weighted by purchasing power.

Most are distributed in Asia, a region already defined by different crypto use cases. For example, India ranks high in both services from centralized exchanges like Binance and crypto activity in decentralized finance (“DeFi”) protocols, from exchanges to lending apps.

While Chainaanalysis found that centralized exchanges still dominate web traffic across Asia, use cases vary across countries. The Philippines has long been a leading adopter, largely due to the popularity of crypto gaming. The first money-making game Axie Infinity gain prominence In Philippines before 2021 Value plummets, many users rely on the game as a source of income. According to Chainaanalysis, nearly 20% of cryptocurrency-related web traffic in the Philippines goes to gaming and gambling platforms.

In contrast, despite the country’s official ban on cryptocurrency trading, wealth preservation amid currency depreciation has driven adoption in Pakistan, according to Chainaanalysis. Since many transactions occur through informal peer-to-peer activity, Chainaanalysis’s findings may not reflect the full picture of the market, although Pakistan still ranks eighth in the overall index.

The Global Adoption Report, now in its fourth year, measures transaction volumes based on network traffic patterns and combines the results with qualitative interviews with local experts and operators. It weights the findings by purchasing power parity to ensure the index reflects activity and not just volume.

The United States remains fourth in the index, up from fifth last year, the event is jointly promoted by centralized exchanges and DeFi.This is followed by Ukraine, whose government Moving to Cryptocurrencies Donate to the war against Russia.

Despite the diverse activity around the world, Chainaanalysis warns of a sharp decline in adoption since the first quarter of 2022. Some of the worst affected are low-income countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen, as well as middle and upper-class countries. Income countries such as Argentina, China and Russia and high-income countries such as the UK and Saudi Arabia.

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