For the last several years, digital currencies have been peaking in popularity. According to a Crypto com report, by the end of 2024, 1 billion people will own some form of crypto. In this article, we will try to figure out which countries have the largest number of crypto owners.
As Yahoo Finance reports, there is a clear trend in cryptocurrency ownership. Countries of Asia, South America, and Africa have a higher popularity rate for cryptos that Europe, North America, or Australia. So, let’s find out which countries love and use digital currencies the most. As the results of the 2020 survey show, these countries had the highest number of respondents that admitted to using or owning cryptos:
- Nigeria – 32%;
- Vietnam – 21%;
- The Philippines – 20%;
- Turkey – 16%;
- Peru – 16%;
- Switzerland – 11%;
- India – 9%;
- China – 7%;
- The US – 6%;
- Germany – 5%.
Nigeria
Being the largest economy on the African continent, Nigeria also tops the list of crypto-friendly countries. In fact, as of 2020, 32% of Nigerians owned some form of cryptocurrency. At the same time, just 6% of Americans have digital currencies in their wallets.
The main reasons for this popularity are:
- Poverty, as crypto transactions are cheap to process;
- Wide use of mobile devices for payments;
- Inflation.
At the same time, the country’s government aims to outlaw the use of crypto in banks.
Vietnam
This Asian country has the second-highest rate of crypto ownership in the world. And this is even though crypto is illegal in Vietnam. The government imposes hefty fines and even prison time for using or trading digital assets.
Nonetheless, there are hundreds of crypto trading sites that offer their services to Vietnamese people. In fact, Vietnam is in fifth place for access to crypto sites. One of the reasons why cryptos are so big in this country is that people often use them as an investing tool.
Philippines
Ranked third on our list, this country has an impressive 20% of crypto owners. And in 2020, the crypto trading volume exceeded $1 million.
It should be noted, however, that the use and trading of digital currencies are not regulated in the Philippines.
Peru
Cryptocurrencies have been a big hit in Peru lately. About 1.2 million (3.7% of the total population) Peruvians claim they own digital assets. The popularity of digital wallets is also peaking, as it has grown by 18.3% just in one month (from June to July 2020).
The local government, however, conducts investigations into cryptos and is working on a set of laws to regulate the sphere.
India
Although the Indian government is not very keen on cryptos, the country still made it to our top-10 list. In 2018, the local authorities imposed a blanket ban on digital assets, which came into effect two years later, in 2020.
Despite all of this, the Indian crypto market grows at extensive rates. As of 2021, the market value amounted to $5.39 billion, with the number of crypto users estimated at 15-100 million.
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