Emerging markets continue to make their way into the crypto world finding a plethora of use cases, especially in the combined Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
A new report from Chainalysis reveals that the cryptocurrency market in the MENA region is the fastest growing in the world. Transaction volume in the MENA region reveals that users received $566 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in the time frame from July 2021 to June 2022. This is 48% more than the previous year.
The MENA region is followed by Latin America and North America, with growth of 40% and 36%, respectively.
This region is made up of some 22 countries including emerging markets such as Morocco, Egypt and Turkey. In these countries, the use of cryptocurrencies finds practical use cases in the preservation of savings and remittances.
In countries such as Turkey and Egypt, which have faced a significant devaluation of their national currencies, the use of cryptocurrencies to preserve savings and send remittances predominates.
Within the time frame of the report, Egypt’s transaction volume, which has tripled, can be credited to local economic volatility. It has a 221.7% YoY growth in cryptocurrency transaction volume. Turkey is the largest crypto market in the region, with $192 billion worth of crypto received within the reporting period.
Wealthier countries in the MENA region, such as the Gulf nation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is home to the crypto haven of Dubai, have also contributed to the local crypto market, albeit in a different capacity.
According to the studyboth Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ranked in the top five countries in the region in terms of cryptocurrency value received.
However, in these Gulf countries, cryptocurrencies are used more in large institutions than in person-to-person payments, such as remittances.
Major crypto firms such as Binance have received approval to set up operations in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, along with neighboring Bahrain.
A local partnership with Binance Pay in the United Arab Emirates has even enabled local entrepreneurs to open businesses using cryptocurrencies.
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