Data shows middle-income countries driving worldwide crypto adoption

Crypto adoption worldwide has been accelerated in the last couple of years due to the many bull rallies. With the last bear market, there has been a decline in the adoption rate, and it has leveled off in the last couple of months. However, there are some parts of the world where adoption rates continue to grow strongly. A recent Chainalysis report delves into the worldwide adoption trend, which found that middle-income countries are driving adoption.

Middle-income countries take the lead

The Chainalysis report found that of the top 20 countries leading crypto adoption worldwide, the vast majority were middle-income countries. Now, to put this into perspective, the World Bank categorizes countries based on income levels, and it currently has four income levels; high income, upper middle income, lower middle income and low income. The middle two of these categories have proven to be hotbeds of crypto adoption.

The Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index ranked Vietnam first when it came to adoption. The Philippines was ranked second, while Ukraine, India and the United States completed the top 5 respectively.

Market cap falls to $932 billion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com

Going further down the list, a total of 10 of the top 20 countries, namely; Vietnam, the Philippines, Ukraine, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Morocco, Nepal, Kenya and Indonesia were all lower middle income countries. Another eight, including Brazil, Thailand, Russia, China, Turkey, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador, were all upper-middle-income countries. Only two of the top 29 were high-income countries, which are the United States and the United Kingdom.

Crypto adoption not out

Although crypto adoption has slowed through the bear market, it is still holding good levels at this point. Even after leveling off in 2022, the global crypto index still puts the adoption rate higher than it was before the recent bull run.

Cryotop adoption levels out | Source: Chainalysis

This shows that interest is still high despite the price drop in the market. However, it is a far cry from the all-time high levels recorded back in the second quarter of 2021. What this shows is that more investors are entering the market when prices rise, which is not really a surprise. But the numbers, even during the bear market, show that the retention rate for investors is much higher than in previous bear markets.

Adoption rates across continents such as Africa and Asia are also the most promising. Nigeria emerged as the country with the highest percentage of the population using or owning cryptocurrencies at 32%. At the same time, Vietnam is the second highest with 21%.

Brazil, which came in 7th on the list for global adoption rate, now has the largest crypto market in Latin America. The USA moved up three places from 2021, going from 8th position last year to 5th position this year.

Featured image from Tekedia, chart from TradingView.com

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