The last year of 2020 was the year that changed the tide for crypto investors. Right from hitting rock bottom in March 2020 to surging to new highs by December, investors saw the best of the bust and boom cycles. The latest report released by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis shows that U.S. investors seemingly dominated the crypto market in 2020.
The U.S. investors collectively made over $4 billion in realized gains in 2020 which was 3x than China that stood second. While the estimated Bitcoin gains for 2020 for U.S. investors stand at $4.1 billion, that of China stood at just $1.1 billion. As the Chainalysis report explains:
“This may seem surprising considering that China historically has by far the highest raw cryptocurrency transaction volume, but as we‘ve covered previously, U.S.-focused exchanges saw huge inflows in 2020 that appear to have been realized toward the end of the year, which likely accounts for the country’s large gains”.
Courtesy: Chainalysis
High Bitcoin Adoption in Low GDP Countries
Another interesting fact shared by Chainalysis is that there have been many countries wherein the BTC adoption has been significantly high when measured against their GDP. Vietnam, the country that ranks 53rd with a GDP of $262 billion stands in the bracket of the lower-middle-income country by the World Bank.
But as per the Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, Vietnam stands in the tenth position. Last year in 2020, Vietnam stood 13th by Bitcoin investment gains of $351 million. In comparison, Spain which has five times the GDP of Vietnam stood just above in Bitcoin realized profits of $551 million, at the 9th position.
The report also points out how much bigger economies like India have been pretty slow in crypto adoption due to the unfriendly policies of the Indian government. The report notes:
“With more than a billion citizens, India is the world‘s second most populous country, and has the fifth largest economy with a GDP of $2.9 trillion. However, the country ranks a surprisingly low 18th in Bitcoin investment gains at $241 million. This may be a result of the Indian government’s historical unfriendliness to cryptocurrency”.
The good thing is that more global investors are joining the crypto ecosystem currently.