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Contrary to what many believe, crypto is not mostly a trend among hipster tech-bros in sillicon valley or stock obsessed bankers on Wall Street.
As a matter of fact, a recent study involving 27 countries has indicated the population of third world countries seem to dominate crypto adoption while countries such as the US and UK fall last on the list with a meager 9% and 8% respectively responded they owned cryptocurrencies. Conversely, Vietnam was pegged as the global leader in cryptocurrency adoption, with 20% of Vietnameese crypto enthusiasts owning Bitcoin, 7% owning Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum and Ripple making up 5% each.
According to the study, adoption of cryptocurrencies is seemingly dominated by countries in East-Asia, and other studies seem to indicate African countries also fall into the same category. One notable exception from the other western countries is Belgium with its 26% adoption, favouring primarly Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ripple.
The results of this study may indicate a difference in perspectives from emergent markets and western countries as it is viewed mainly as a speculation tool in western countries, while is looked upon more favourably as a long term financial security in the global south. Partially, regulations employed by UK and US authorities are also likely to blame for this comparatively low level of adoption.
Many migrants also use cryptocurrencies to avoid inconvenient bank transfers when sending money to their relatives in other countries, something that crypto offers as an additional layer of convenience.
Personally I was a bit surprised at these numbers not to mention the fact that Indian crypto adoption is seemingly a lot higher than I anticipated. Germany is also a country that I've percieved as notoriously crypto-friently with very lax regulation in terms of crypto, therefore its suprising to see only 11% of germans own cryptocurrencies.
If anything, I sure hope a coming bear market wont scare away too many of these new crypto entusiasts wherever they may reside.
What are your thoughts on crypto adopton? How will the trend change in the coming years and what will it mean for crypto? Let me know in the comments below!
