India Ranks First Among 154 Nations in Grassroot Adoption of Crypto: Chainalysis

The average, middle class populations of India, Nigeria, and Thailand are driving the grassroot adoption of cryptocurrencies by engaging with digital assets. The notion has been shared by crypto research firm Chainalysis, in the fourth instalment of its Global Crypto Adoption Index report. India has topped this index of 154 countries, showing that crypto culture is finding its place in the day-to-day financial and investments activities for Indians. Nigeria, Vietnam, US, and Ukraine have followed India on the index to secure the second, third, and fourth rankings, respectively.

On the Chainalysis index, India has bagged the first rank in crypto transactions recorded in both retail and non-retail DeFi transactions. In terms of peer-to-peer exchange trade volume, India secured the fifth rank, whereas Nigeria ranked first in the category.

“Lower Middle Income (LMI) countries have seen the greatest recovery in grassroots crypto adoption over the last year. In fact, LMI is the only category of countries whose total grassroots adoption remains above where it was in Q3 2020,” Chainalysis said in its findings.

To put things in perspective, countries where the gross national income (GNI) per capita ranges between $1,086 (roughly Rs. 90,057) – $4,255 (roughly Rs. 3.5 lakh) classify as LMI nations. India, Ukraine, and Nigeria are counted among LMI countries.

LMI nations, where industrialisation and populations, both are on the rise — account for over 40 percent of the world's population. Chainalysis' data has indicated that with the progress of these LMI nations, crypto adoption is likely to be a big part of the global fintech future.

“Grassroots crypto adoption isn't about which countries have the highest raw transaction volumes — anyone could probably guess that the biggest, wealthiest countries are far ahead there. Instead, we want to highlight the countries where average, everyday people are embracing crypto the most. If LMI countries are the future, then the data indicates that crypto is going to be a big part of that future,” the report added.

Following the collapse of FTX crypto exchange last year, the investor trust in the crypto sector fell drastically. This became a major factor why the grassroot adoption of crypto for day-to-day payments slowed down in several high-income nations.

The report exudes optimism about the future of the digital assets sector in the times to come.

“Institutional adoption — primarily driven by organisations in high-income countries — continues to gain steam even during the ongoing crypto winter, paints a promising picture of the future,” it noted.

Meanwhile Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, China, Turkey, Russia, UK, Argentina, Mexico, Bangladesh, Japan, Canada, and Morocco are other nations where crypto adoption is becoming a regular financial activity in, as per the Chainalysis report.