Bitcoin thrust into the mainstream with a bang by the end of 2017 driving a massive lot of attention. But the hype died down after a few months in the bear market. Nevertheless, if the ETF gets approved, and the institutional money makes its way into the cryptocurrency market, the fate of bitcoins will soon change.
Bitcoin having spent a lot of time under the media spotlight, we were curious about one question – which countries are the most open to bitcoin adoption?
So, we conducted a study, analysing bitcoin trading volume by country to find the answer to this question.
Based on our findings, we found the bitcoin adoption rate to be uneven across the globe as 72% of all the bitcoin trading happened in the top five countries – USA, Russia, UK, Venezuela, and China. And, 86.5% of trades happened in the top ten countries.
Additionally, we were also able to find that the top 4 countries in the all-time country volume list have some sort of issue happening with their native currencies.
It is obvious that the global economy is suffering, and countries like Venezuela are experiencing the worst of hyperinflations. The problem in Venezuela is growing worse as the capital puts a restriction on ATM cash withdrawals to just $1 per day. This sudden destruction of purchasing power has to lead to a majority of people going hungry and taking up every possible task to survive.
It can be seen from the bitcoin trading volumes that Venezuelans are turning to Bitcoin to circumvent oppressive capital controls and save what little wealth they have left. This reason has put Venezuela on the fourth position on our all-time country volume list.
When Venezuela wealth is compared with the rest of Europe which report lower trade volumes, the statistics become even more clearer.
Venezuela finding itself a place in our list is the utmost example of how bitcoin can act as a safe haven during times of financial jeopardy. Maybe cryptocurrency isn’t a speculative asset after all. In fact, you can even try investing in bitcoin is you see hard times ahead.
There is no doubt that all developing countries would adopt Cryptocurrencies soon.
I think India will be added soon in this list, after the relief of ban on cryptocurrencies inside the country!
Great Article! Thanks for the list!
I am not agree with Stacey, though India’s supreme court allowed trading of cryptocurrencies after long court battle between govt and businesses who invested hugely in India making them difficult to recover losses. As said India, being still a developing country and Indian Rupee is not directly accepted by bitcoin exchanges but are first converted to USD or EUR so as to trade, Due to rapid depreciation of Indian Rupee against Dollar it becomes difficult for Indians to trade hugely in Bitcoin. Another thing is people are not very much aware of trading bitcoin or cryptocurrency like any other trading products such as stocks, currency and commodities.
I think US or UK and EURO zone shall be top volume provider in cryptocurrencies.
Thanks for sharing the list of Countries.