Thailand has slipped two places to 10th in the fourth annual Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, which combines on-chain and real-world data to measure which countries lead the world in grassroots crypto adoption.
Grassroots crypto adoption is not about which countries have the highest raw transaction volumes -- the biggest, wealthiest countries are far ahead there.
The survey by Chainalysis, a New York-based blockchain analysis firm, highlights the countries where average, everyday people are embracing crypto the most.
The findings identify countries where the most people are putting the greatest share of their wealth into cryptocurrency.
Worldwide grassroots crypto adoption is down this year, the survey found. While there has been a marked recovery since the doldrums of late 2022, when the giant exchange FTX imploded, grassroots adoption is still well off its all-time highs.
The top 10 countries in the Chainalysis survey, in order, were: India, Nigeria, Vietnam, the US, Ukraine, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil and Thailand.
Lower middle-income (LMI) countries showed a much stronger recovery than anywhere else in grassroots adoption; most of the countries in the top 10 fit that profile.
Given that 40% of the world's population live in LMI countries, this is extremely promising for crypto's future prospects, according to the report.
The Central and Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) region dominates the top of the index, with six of the top 10 countries located in the region (India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand).
"No region provides more reason to believe that cryptocurrency is the future than CSAO, because these countries have wide-ranging, unique economic needs, and different crypto platforms and assets have arisen to meet them in each case," says Chainalysis. Some highlights from the CSAO region:
- DeFi (decentralised finance) took on a heightened role, accounting for an estimated 50% or more of regional transaction volume between July 2022 and June 2023, compared to 35% in the previous 12-month period.
- Institutional adoption in the region also appears to have picked up, with nearly 70% of total transaction volume coming in transfers valued at $1 million or more, compared with less than 60% in the preceding time period.
- The Philippines has a huge share of crypto-related web traffic going to gaming and gambling platforms at 20%. Vietnam is next at just 10%.
- Countries like Pakistan and Vietnam see a higher share of activity happening on P2P exchanges, which are more commonly used in emerging markets or in countries with stricter capital controls.
- In the Philippines, where many want to speculate on new assets, make extra cash and connect digitally with others, play-to-earn games were able to gain an enormous foothold. The games act as an entry point into the wider digital asset economy, and now thousands of Filipinos have crypto wallets they can use for other purposes.
- In Pakistan, where the economic situation is more dire, stablecoins are providing economic relief.
To read the full report, visit https://tinyurl.com/3exhykua