India, Nigeria and Thailand rank among the top three in Chainaanalysis’s Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index 2023, with low- and middle-income (LMI) countries leading the way in grassroots adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The blockchain analytics firm released an excerpt from the report showing that Central Asia, South Asia, and the wider Oceania region dominate its index, with six of the top 10 countries located in the region.
The index highlights the overall decline in global grassroots cryptocurrencies following the 2022 FTX crash. However, grassroots cryptocurrencies have shown the strongest recovery in adoption over the past 12 months in low- and middle-income countries as determined by the World Bank wealth classification.
“In fact, lower- and middle-income countries are the only ones where total grassroots adoption remains above Q3 2020 levels, before the most recent bull run.”
Chainaanalysis goes on to highlight the many promising aspects that can be drawn from this data, emphasizing that low- and middle-income countries typically host growing industries and populations, accounting for more than 40% of the world’s population.
“If low- and middle-income countries are the future, then the data suggests that cryptocurrencies will be a big part of that future.”
The excerpt also shows that despite a prolonged bear market, institutional adoption driven by organizations in high-income countries is gathering pace. The report also predicts that cryptocurrencies are likely to be adopted “bottom-up and top-down,” with the assets meeting the needs of users in high-wealth countries and developing countries.
India remains the largest cryptocurrency market in the region and leads in grassroots adoption, according to Chainaanalysis’ index. It has also become the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency market by raw estimated trading volume, ahead of other major economies.
Chainaanalysis also noted that India’s unique tax-at-source scheme applies to cryptocurrency transactions, which requires a 1% tax on all transactions that must be deducted from the user’s balance at the time of completion.
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