Key facts:
The “top 3” of countries with the highest adoption of bitcoin is occupied by Ukraine, Russia and Venezuela.
The UN sees more risks than benefits in this massive adoption of cryptocurrencies.
In percentage terms, Venezuela is the third country in the world with the highest adoption of bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies. This was reported days ago by the United Nations Organization (UN) through its Conference on Trade and Development, based on 2021 statistics.
I agree with you data According to the international organization, 1 in 10 Venezuelans (or 10.3%) owns cryptocurrencies. With a population close to 29 million inhabitants, The South American country would then have almost 3 million people who acquired some digital asset.
The first two places in the ranking are occupied by Ukraine (12.7%) and Russia (11.9%). Following Venezuela are Singapore (9.4%), Kenya (8.5%) and the United States (8.3%).
In addition to Venezuela, the other Spanish-speaking countries that are in the “top 20” are Colombia (position 10, with 6.1%) and Peru (position 18, with 3.7%).
The UN points out that 15 of the 20 countries with the highest percentage of cryptocurrency adoption were emerging market and developing economies. The Organization presents two reasons for this: the advantage they represent for sending and receiving remittances; and the possibility of financial investment and speculation.
“In particular, in countries facing currency depreciation and rising inflation (triggered or accentuated by the COVID-19 crisis), cryptocurrencies have been perceived as a way to protect household savings. Regardless of the reason for using cryptocurrencies, exchanges play a crucial role in enabling their wider implementation. Such exchanges function as clearinghouses, brokering conversions between cryptocurrencies and sovereign currencies.”
UN Conference on Trade and Development.
The UN council: more regulations and bans on the bitcoin industry
Far from being enthusiastic about the benefits mentioned here, the UN Conference on Trade and Development expresses its concern. For this organism, the benefits “are dwarfed by the risks”so it is necessary to give “national regulatory responses” to the challenge posed by bitcoin.
The UN mentions three risks of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies:
- The possibility that it is used for illicit purposes (although it does not clarify that fiat money is much more used for this purpose).
- Its use to evade capital controls (a characteristic it shares with cash, although this is not mentioned in the report).
- The danger it represents for the “monetary sovereignty” of countries if its use as a means of payment were to become widespread.
For all this, the international organization recommends prohibiting banks from offering cryptocurrencies to their customers. As CriptoNoticias recently reported, in Argentina and Mexico commercial banks received this type of prohibition.
In addition, the UN asks to regulate decentralized finance (DeFi, for its acronym in English); Y ban or restrict the advertising of exchanges and wallets in public spaces and social networks.