Vietnam leads global crypto adoption, U.S. comes fifth

On Sept. 14, Chainalysis released a report on Global Cryptocurrency Adoption for 2022. The research revealed that Vietnam has the highest crypto adoption, the Philippines and Ukraine follow as second and third, and the U.S. comes fifth in line.

The report stated that the domination of emerging countries in the adoption index, which stood out last year, persisted this year as well. According to the World Bank’s income categorizations, Vietnam, the Philippines, Ukraine, India, and Pakistan are lower-middle-income countries. Brazil, Thailand, Russia, and China, on the other hand, are upper-middle-income countries.

Only the United States stands out in the top 10 as a high-income country.

Changes since last year

This year marked Vietnam’s second consecutive year at the top of the leaderboard, coming in first for crypto adoption.

The U.S. was ranked sixth in 2020, eighth in 2021, and fifth in 2022. Even though it recorded a small de-ranking from 2020 to 2021, the U.S. still holds the middle line and stands out as the only high-income country with such high adoption.  

China was ranked 13th last year, but this year it managed to make its way to the top 10. The report states China is especially strong in centralized services, which drove adoption higher. The World Bank says that the country’s ban on crypto trading was either ineffective or loosely enforced because it didn’t hinder the adoption surge at all.

Adoption surge despite the bear market

Another highlight from the report was the rate of adoption. Overall, crypto adoption slowed worldwide due to the bear market but managed to remain above the pre-bull market levels. 

According to the report, the adoption rates have been increasing steadily since mid-2019. The adoption rate reached its all-time high in the second quarter of 2021 and has been going up and down since. The report states:

“[adoption rates] ​​have fallen in each of the last two quarters as we’ve entered a bear market. Still, it’s important to note that global adoption remains well above its pre-bull market 2019 levels.”