Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies are only used by 13.7% of Americans, but they generate more trading volume than anyone else.
The latest data collected by the Huobi exchange confirms that, in 2022, the United States will be the most “mature” cryptocurrency market.
The US and Vietnam lead the cryptocurrency market
Despite sharp drops in the price of Bitcoin and altcoins this year, interest around the world remains “extremely active,” and the leaders may come as a surprise.
In its latest annual report, Huobi Research, a subsidiary of Huobi Global, revealed that the US accounts for 9.2% of global centralized exchange (CEX) volume. When it comes to DeFi, the figure is even higher: 31.8% of global volumes.
At the same time, the percentage of the population that uses cryptocurrencies is not as high as in other jurisdictions. According to the report, 13.7% of Americans use cryptocurrencies, compared to 20.3% in Vietnam, the leader of the 15 countries examined.
Taken together, however, The US had the highest normalized score for “cryptocurrency market maturity”, well ahead of any competitor. Second on the list is Vietnam, with a score of 35 to the US’s 91.9.
Nevertheless, Huobi describes Vietnam as the country with the “highest cryptocurrency adoption rate” and calls the cryptocurrency trading scene in both South Korea and Japan “extremely active.”
“Japan and South Korea have brought huge traffic to exchanges. Specifically, South Korea ranks second with 7.4% and Japan sixth with 3.85% in Asia,” the report notes.
At the other extreme, the countries with the lowest maturity scores are China, Singapore, and South Korea, with 5.9, 9.4, and 14.5, respectively.
Singapore stands out with its position, given the rate of regulatory expansion and acceptance of cryptocurrency as a technology.
“Singapore has become a top destination for tech startups, attracting a host of innovators and unicorn companies, which naturally includes crypto players”wrote Huobi.
“Singapore maintains a high tolerance and openness for the cryptocurrency industry: regulations apply, but there is still a lot of room for innovation.”
However, the report notes that only 4.9% of the Singaporean population trades cryptocurrencies, which is 0.8% of global CEX volumes, with an internet population ratio of just 2/100.
A “proper” regulation would avoid the black swan of the FTX
On the other hand, the report acknowledges that the regulatory situation is delicate for cryptocurrencies after the FTX scandal.
Nonetheless, FTX is not the biggest catastrophe of the year for cryptocurrencies, he says, with the Terra LUNA debacle and Three Arrows Capital (3AC) insolvency more pressing.
“The FTX bankruptcy is the third most influential incident in 2022 after the Terra and 3AC collapses,” he commented.
“The main issues in the FTX case are misappropriation of funds, affiliate transactions with Alameda Research, etc. At the time, some US regulators expressed that they were investigating or had already begun investigating the issues a few months ago. However, the FTX incident will not happen if crypto asset regulations in various countries are properly implemented.”
Cointelegraph continues to report extensively on the latest events related to FTX and its impact on the crypto market.
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