The race for greater crypto adoption often leads to competition between so-called developed countries and developing countries. While economies in which crypto helps unbanked people often see high levels of adoption, residents in the Global North enjoy easier – and often, legal – access to crypto-based services. However, according to a study by Chainalysis, one country definitely made a killing in terms of crypto gains in 2021.
“We’re all living in Amerika”
The answer, was the United States of America, as the country reaped roughly $47 billion in “realized” crypto gains. The runner-up was the United Kingdom, with gains of a little more than $8 billion. A wide discrepancy indeed. Other countries behind these two were Germany, Japan, China, Turkey, and Russia – in that order.
While it might be surprising to see China still amongst the top five, Chainalysis’ report noted that crackdowns could have affected the country’s crypto growth rate. It stated,
“In 2021, China’s total estimated realized cryptocurrency gains were $5.1 billion, up from $1.7 billion in 2020, for a year-over-year growth rate of 194%. While that may sound substantial, it represents a lower growth rate than other countries’.”
To compare, the USA’s realized crypto gains shot up by around 476% in the same time frame.
So, coming to the question on your mind now – which coin or token won investors’ hearts worldwide? Well, hold on to your hats, because the answer was not Bitcoin. In fact, Ethereum took the crown for itself with total realized gains of around $76.3 billion, while Bitcoin scooped up $74.7 billion. The report put this down to the DeFi boom of 2021.
Another factor of interest here is how countries that were supposedly open to crypto innovation saw relatively low estimated crypto gains. These included the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, and Singapore.
Not always a silver lining
USA might be enjoying its crypto trophy, but there are concerns looming on the horizon. For starters, Bitcoin’s correlation to tech stocks recently hit a high last recorded in the summer of 2020. Arcane Research revealed that the king coin’s 30-day-correlation to Nasdaq was 0.70.
Other sources of anxiety include the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War and the question of how the Federal Reserve rate hike FUD might hit the growing crypto sector.
Not a load of bull
At press time, the market was in a state of excitement and suspense as Bitcoin traded at $41,572.90, while Ether was changing hands at $3,080.77. Adding to that, Santiment noted there was some interest in the keyword “pump,” signaling a fear of missing out on new buys.
🐂 #Crypto appears to be gaining some #bullish voices again, as the word #pump hit its highest level of dominance among public #Discord, #Twitter, #Telegram, and #Reddit channels. This #FOMO is a mild concern, but no major euphoric signals as of yet. 👍 https://t.co/m6QAvj3T5J pic.twitter.com/mypFv3k6Uo
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 21, 2022
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