Crypto Adoption Flourishing in Lower-Middle-Income Countries despite Global Usage Decline, says Chainalysis

According to Cointelegraph: Crypto adoption displays a predominantly bright outlook, particularly in emerging economies, despite a fall in global usage, according to Chainalysis. The blockchain data firm reports that India tops the world in crypto adoption, followed by Nigeria and Vietnam. However, North America houses nearly a quarter of all value received by cryptocurrency exchanges, with the United States taking the lead.To measure adoption, Chainalysis utilised web traffic data from 13 billion web visits across five activity categories, weighted by each country's Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) per capita. Essentially, a lower PPP per capita means a higher ranking in adoption, on an equal scale of cryptocurrency received at centralized services.While crypto usage dips globally, lower-middle-income (LMI) countries like India, Nigeria, and fifth-placed Ukraine are exceptions. These countries, home to around 40% of the world's population, have been leading in crypto adoption since Q2 of 2022 as global usage started to flounder. The rise of crypto acceptance in these emerging nations could signal robust future prospects for digital currencies.Despite an evident drop in institutional transaction volume in North America since April, the region still dominates in terms of crypto market volume. Stablecoin volume share has decreased significantly, along with the weighted volume of transactions in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) from over 75% in August 2022 to under 50% in July 2023.The United Kingdom, which accounted for over twice the volume of second-place Germany, contributed to 17.6% of the crypto value received in Central, Northern, and Western Europe. DeFi growth was prominently observed in France and other regions like Central and Southern Asia and Oceania; Eastern Europe, and Central, Northern, and Western Europe over the last 12 months.Despite a downturn in transaction volume in Eastern Asia due to Chinese bans beginning in 2020, China still contributed over $75 billion in value to exchanges over the 12 months ending in June, primarily through centralized exchanges.In terms of regional highlights, Nigeria outstrips sub-Saharan countries by transaction volume, with Bitcoin ranking as the most popular crypto. In Latin America, Argentina and Brazil drive transaction volume, with the report highlighting cryptocurrency's role as a hedge against inflation in the region.