Europe Becomes Second Largest Cryptocurrency Economy in the World
The Central, Northern, and Western Europe (CNWE) region has emerged as the world's second-largest cryptocurrency economy this year, trailing only North America. This region accounted for 17.6% of the global cryptocurrency transaction volume from July 2022 to June 2023, with approximately 1 trillion US dollars flowing into the cryptocurrency space during that period, according to a study by the network analytics company Chainalysis.
According to analysts, the United Kingdom leads the region in the number of cryptocurrency transactions. In total, the United Kingdom ranks third in the world for this metric, trailing only the United States and India. From June 2022 to June 2023, the country saw cryptocurrency payments totaling around $252 billion. Other prominent countries in the region for cryptocurrency activity include Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Italy.
"Customers in the United Kingdom typically seek alternatives to low-yield traditional savings and investments. People continue to search for high-yield, long-term investments in Bitcoin, especially considering its expected price increase in 2024," said Jamie McNaught, the founder and CEO of the British cryptocurrency exchange Solidi.
Furthermore, the United Kingdom ranks 14th in the global Chainalysis index measuring the penetration of cryptocurrency technologies into the country's economy. The CNWE region comprises six out of the 50 leading countries in cryptocurrency usage worldwide. Spain ranks 22nd, France 23rd, Germany 26th, Italy 37th, and the Netherlands 39th.
The most popular category of services for British users is decentralized finance (DeFi), accounting for 54.8% of the total cryptocurrency market turnover. DeFi has played a crucial role in cryptocurrency adoption in recent years, especially with the emergence of decentralized exchanges (DEX).
It's worth noting that The Gaze previously reported on three straightforward financial services that impress Europeans in Ukraine. Among them, a local cryptocurrency exchange offers a crypto-acquiring service for businesses. This service allows both large and small businesses to receive payments from customers in cryptocurrency and convert them into traditional currency.