Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may be the biggest driver of cryptocurrency adoption in Central, South Asia and Oceania (CSAO), according to a new report.
According to a Wednesday Chainalysis post titled “Crypto Adoption Steadies in South Asia, Soars in the Southeast,” NFT-related actions accounted for 58% of all web traffic going to cryptocurrency services from this region in Q2 2022.
In the meantime, another 21% of traffic in the quarter went to blockchain play-to-earn (P2E) gaming websites, with major titles such as Axie Infinity, STEPN and Battle Infinity.
Chainalysis noted that P2E blockchain games are “closely related” to NFTs, as most P2E games feature in-game items in the form of NFTs that can be sold on marketplaces. like MagicEden and OpenSea, which means:
“NFTs are perhaps the biggest on-ramp to the cryptocurrency space in CSAO today.”
CSAO countries include India, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, among 25 others, and host seven of the top 20 countries in Chainalysis’s Cryptocurrency Adoption Index.
According to a web traffic heat mapNFT-related websites accounted for the majority of web traffic in almost all countries in the CSAO regionalthough blockchain games and entertainment also saw a significant portion of the traffic.
Chainalysis noted that this “is not necessarily surprising: CSAO is a blockchain-based entertainment innovation hub,” adding:
“Gaming-focused blockchain developers Polygon and Immutable X are based in India and Australia, for example, and Axie Infinity and STEPN, the two largest play-to-earn games, are operated in Vietnam and Australia, respectively.”
Vietnam topped Chainalysis’s cryptocurrency adoption index for the second year in a row, but the Philippines surprisingly came in second after ranking 15th in the last report.
“These two countries have similar growth engines: play-to-earn (P2E) games and remittances,” the firm explained. blockchain analytics.
Secondly, traffic to websites related to other topics, such as decentralized exchange contracts, has decreased in recent quarters, according to Chainalysiswhich he said is likely connected to the ongoing bear market and crypto winter.
The report also talked about the adoption of cryptocurrencies in India and Pakistan.noting that while both ranked as the second and third largest adopters of cryptocurrencies worldwide in 2021, the two countries have dropped this year to fourth and sixth, respectively.
Recent regulatory developments are listed as possible reasons for the change.
In January, the Pakistani central bank and government recommended a ban on cryptocurrencies, while the Indian government implemented a 30% tax on all cryptocurrency earnings in April. and an additional 1% fee on every cryptocurrency transaction in July.
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