The dawn of 2024 has seen most cryptocurrencies riding a wave of success. Dive into Europe’s crypto adoption trends and see where the enthusiasm is highest.
Cryptocurrency, the talk of the financial town. Estimates from TripleA, a cryptocurrency payment gateway, suggest that Europe boasts around 31 million digital asset users.
Leading the charge is Asia with 263 million users, trailed by North America with 57 million, and Africa with 38 million.
However, within Europe, the enthusiasm varies greatly depending on the country.
As per Chainalysis’ 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Eastern European nations stand out as fervent supporters of crypto investments.
The index gauges the proportion of wealth individuals invest in cryptocurrency, ranking countries on a scale from 0 to 1.
Ukraine (0.215) leads the European charge, followed by Turkey (0.142) and Russia (0.140).
Moving westward, the UK (0.121) claims the fourth spot, while Spain (0.062) secures the fifth.
On the global front, Asia takes the spotlight. India leads the grassroots crypto movement worldwide, earning a perfect score (1) on the index. Nigeria (0.642) and Vietnam (0.568) closely follow suit.
The US (0.367) and Ukraine (0.215) fall below the 0.5 mark, landing in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Remarkably, Ukraine stands as the lone European representative in the top five and top ten worldwide.
According to Chainalysis, Central and South Asia exhibit the highest levels of crypto adoption, with six of the top ten countries hailing from these regions.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market experiences a surge. With Bitcoin nearing its all-time high, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has soared 5% in 24 hours, reaching $2.44 trillion—surpassing Germany’s GDP, the third largest in the world.
As crypto garners attention in financial markets, efforts to integrate it into traditional systems intensify.
In Europe, over 1,100 blockchain-related entities flourish, spanning Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and northern Italy, with a combined worth of $185 billion as of December 2022.
Additionally, several lower-middle-income (LMI) countries, like El Salvador, lead the charge in cryptocurrency adoption. Notably, El Salvador made history by mandating that all businesses in the country accept Bitcoin, a pioneering move in the realm of global finance.
