By John Ikani
Largest cryptocurrency platform, Binance in a report titled “The World Goes Crypto: Top 5 Countries Adopting Crypto and How BUSD Helps,” said Nigeria is at the forefront as the #1 country leading cryptocurrency adoption.
According to the report released yesterday on Binance’s blog site, the ranking was based on Statista’s survey on selected countries that used or owned cryptocurrencies in 2020.
“Topping the list is the African nation of almost 200 million people, mainly on the younger, more tech-savvy side. With most Nigerians adept at sending money and paying through their phones, almost a third of Nigerians surveyed by Statista have used or owned crypto at some point,” it said.
It puts the country’s crypto adoption at 32% according to Statista.
Other countries listed include; Vietnam with 21%, the Philippines with 20%, Turkey with 16% and Peru with 16%.
The report went on to note that around 300 million people worldwide have owned or used crypto at some point in their lives.
It added that the source of this data is from a recent estimate from blockchain technology company, TripleA.
The report also stated that 300 million people represent just 3.8% of the world’s population or 5.8% of the total people on earth between the ages of 15 to 65 (5.1 billion).
It used these statistics to further its point on why crypto adoption is at its early stages.
Prospects of Crypto in 2021
The report listed 3 reasons as to why 2021 is a monumental year for cryptocurrency adoption. These reasons include All-Time-Highs (ATHs) for Bitcoin and altcoins, institutional adoption and general adoption.
The report stated, “Adding to the momentum that Bitcoin created, more people were attracted to crypto because of the new innovations that were introduced, such as blockchain-fueled solutions like DeFi (decentralized finance), NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and more, opening new avenues within the crypto industry.”
On institutional adoption, the report stated that the presence of institutional investors was the key difference between this year’s rise in crypto interest compared to 2017’s “short-lived” cryptocurrency boom. It mentioned companies like Tesla, Square, and MicroStrategy who started to declared Bitcoin reserves.
