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The Chainalysis report is out, and it talks volumes about how cryptocurrency is being adopted at a rapid pace even in places where it has been least expected. So, Chainlink conducted its analysis and posted recent data revealing surprise entries in the Global crypto adoption index for this year. Ukraine tops the list in the Global Crypto Adoption Index 2020 and yes it is a surprise entry. Close on the heels of Ukraine are Russia and Venezuela, toppling other expected top 3 entries like China.
The index calculates the score based on some key on-chain metrics. The primary metrics are the total value of on-chain crypto transactions weighted by purchasing power per capita (PPP), the total value of on-chain retail transfers weighted by PPP, and lastly the number of on-chain crypto deposits weighted by the number of internet users. Not to forget mentioning, the index also takes into account the volumes of trades made on peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchanges weighted by both the number of internet users as well as PPP.
The below-given chart is the latest ranking as per the chart. We can clearly see these above-mentioned countries have toppled China to surpass it in terms of the total score.
Source: Chainalysis
While it is glaring that China sticks at no 4, but it also points out other aspects which are the unbalanced growth of development across the crypto sectors of many countries. Despite China dominating on-chain deposits and P2P trade, due to its large population, the country’s ranking has come below down to the 4th position.
The two-top performing nations by P2P exchange volume, Kenya and Venezuela, come in the top 5 but otherwise fail to feature in the top 10 in any other metric. But the results being favored in the course of upcoming nations says that the emphasis on P2P volumes has actually overlooked the establishment of local regulated exchanges as also a very important indicator to understand adoption rates. Even the US ranks below Kenya, despite outperforming it in the other four criteria.
In the report, Chainalysis has described Venezuela as a great example of those forces which trigger more cryptocurrency adoption within these emerging crypto economies. So for Venezuela, increasing adoption could be a way to counter economic instability also. Chainalysis has reported and quoted:
“Our data shows that Venezuelans use cryptocurrency more when the country’s native fiat currency is losing value to inflation, suggesting that Venezuelans turn to cryptocurrency to preserve savings they may otherwise lose.”
The report has been an eye-opener because it has offered some deep insights which have been totally unexpected. Vietnam ranks second both in terms of the value of retail and on-chain transactions despite the local government’s early attempt to restrict the use of cryptocurrency. Another surprising factor is that none of the Western European nations are featuring among Chainalysis’s list of the top 10 countries.
With emerging nations believing that crypto adoption will boost economic stability, it needs to be cheered upon that there has been a major change in attitude favoring cryptos.