As cryptocurrencies continue to gain wide acceptance, many countries across the world are placing their stake in the crypto revolution, boosting global adoption.
Given this trend, a number of counties are jockeying for lead dog status in terms of crypto trading and investing opportunities. To unearth which parts of the world are accelerating forward, Crypto Head, a cryptocurrency review, advice, and news firm recently took a data-driven deep dive, analyzing measures such as the number of crypto ATMs in a country as well as their accessibility to the general population.
They also examined the government's legal stance on cryptocurrency ownership as well as where they can be used in banks. Finally, there was an assessment done of online searches to determine level of interest in cryptocurrencies in various countries
Lastly, the interest in cryptocurrencies is what drives them, and therefore the number of online searches and increase in these over the last year is a good indicator of rising interest in each country.
You can find a complete roadmap of the results HERE:
Please note: Search data is between May 2020 to April 2021. In the case of zero crypto ATMs, ‘People Per Crypto ATM’ is the country’s entire population. The legislation score is out of two, with a point being assigned if cryptocurrency is allowed to be owned, and another if it was allowed to be used in banks.
The top 3 most crypto ready countries
1 - United States: 7.13/10 crypto-ready score
The USA is the most ready to adopt cryptocurrencies with a total score of 7.13/10. It has the most crypto ATMs with over 17,000 - the next closest, Canada, has nearly 16,000 less. Law allows for ownership of crypto and its use in banks, and there were 14,796 Google searches for crypto per 100,000 people between May 2020 to April 2021, which is a 140% increase from the same timeframe the previous year.
2 - Cyprus: 6.47/10 crypto-ready score
Potentially surprising to some, Cyprus ranks second with 6.47/10, as 33,941 per 100,000 people searched for cryptocurrencies between May 2020 to April 2021 alone. This level of interest is the highest of any country in the world and is a 139.6% increase from the previous year. While there are no crypto ATMS, Cyprus allows the ownership and usage of cryptocurrencies in banks, bringing its ‘readiness’ score up the charts.
3 - Singapore: 6.3/10 crypto-ready score
As a financial centre of the world, Singapore scored 6.3/10 totalling 31,324 crypto searches per 100,000 people which is the second most of all countries analysed. The law also allows for owning and using cryptocurrencies and there are 10 crypto ATMs in Singapore, but as it is such a small country this equates to one every 28 square miles, which is one of the high concentrations of any country.
There were a number of other key findings from the study:
Hong Kong has the highest concentration of crypto ATMs in the world, averaging one per three square miles - though Hong Kong is only 429 square miles in total.
The United States has the most crypto ATMs per capita with one for every 19,023 people, followed by Canada and the UK.
While ownership of cryptocurrencies is permitted in Canada, it cannot be used in banks and is the only country in the top 10 to not achieve a full legislation score.
Cyprus is the only country to not have a single crypto ATM of the top 10.
Though Romania ranks 33rd place, it has seen the biggest increase in crypto searches from 34,200 to 147,500 between 2019 to 2020 - a 331% increase.
Adam Morris, co-founder of Crypto Head, in a press statement observed:
"Some interesting findings in our Crypto Ready Index include the recent increase of interest in cryptocurrency from tax havens like Cyprus, Gibraltar, and the Cayman Islands. Our study found that these places fall in the top four countries that made searches for crypto between 2020/2021."
"Our research also found that the United States is the most crypto ready for consumers, even though the government has been slow with regulation clarity over the last few years, which has actually driven most crypto business overseas."
