Emerging economies like Vietnam, India and Indonesia are leading the charge when it comes to cryptocurrency adoption, underscoring important use cases for digital assets tied to remittances and financial inclusion.
Finder’s survey of 42,000 people across 27 countries revealed that Vietnam had the highest adoption rate, with 41% of respondents claiming they had purchased cryptocurrency. Twenty percent of Vietnamese said they had purchased Bitcoin (BTC), which was the highest among all countries polled.
Although Vietnam’s strong outperformance may appear surprising at the surface, Finder’s survey corroborated other data showing that the southeast Asian country is punching above its weight when it comes to crypto adoption. As Cointelegraph reported in June, Vietnam ranked 13th in realized Bitcoin gains for 2020 — despite having only the 53rd largest economy based on gross domestic product.
Related: Report: Vietnam's PM asks State Bank to trial digital currency on the blockchain
Regarding the motivation for purchasing crypto in Vietnam, the Finder report claimed:
“Remittance payment may have played a significant role in these numbers, with cryptocurrency an option for migrants who want to send money home and avoid exchange fees.”
Adoption rates were also very high throughout Asia, with 30% of respondents in Indonesia and India claiming to have purchased crypto. That figure was 29% in Malaysia and 28% in the Philippines.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, adoption rates were lowest in the United Kingdom and the United States at 8% and 9%, respectively.
Each country that was represented by the survey had between 1,160 and 2,511 respondents. “Due to the varying Google infrastructure in each territory, not all surveys were nationally representative,” the report said.
The report also documented strong adoption trends in many Latin American countries, with 22% of Brazilian respondents claiming to have purchased crypto. The digital asset class is growing rapidly throughout the continent due in part to surging inflation, stricter capital controls and a deteriorating fiscal outlook. The region is now home to at least two crypto-exchange unicorns, a term used for startups that have achieved a valuation of $1 billion or more.
Related: Latin America’s Mercado Bitcoin exchange raises $200M from SoftBank