Crypto adoption across the world has been accelerated in the last couple of years due to the multiple bull rallies. With the recent bear market, there has been a decline in the adoption rate, and it has leveled out in the last couple of months. However, there are some parts of the world where the adoption rate continues to wax strong. A recent Chainalysis report goes into the worldwide adoption trend, which found that middle income countries are driving adoption.

Middle Income Countries Take The Lead

The Chainalysis report found that of the top 20 countries that are leading crypto adoption across the globe, the vast majority were middle income countries. Now, to put this in perspective, the World Bank categorizes countries based on income levels, and it currently has four income levels; high income, upper middle income, lower middle income, and low income. The middle two of these categories have proven to be a hotbed for crypto adoption. 

The Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index saw Vietnam clinch 1st place when it came to adoption. The Philippines ranked 2nd, while Ukraine, India, and United States respectively completed the top 5.

Market cap falls to $932 billion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com

Moving further down the list, a total of 10 out of the top 20 countries, namely; Vietnam, Philippines, Ukraine, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Morroco, Nepal, Kenya, and Indonesia, were all lower middle income countries. Another eight, including Brazil, Thailand, Russia, China, Turkey, Argentina, Colombia, and Ecuador, were all upper middle income countries. Only two of the top 29 were high-income countries which are the United States and the United Kingdom.

Crypto Adoption Not Out

Even though crypto adoption has slowed through the bear market, it still maintains good levels at this point. Even after leveling out in 2022, the crypto global index score still puts the adoption rate higher than what it was before the recent bull run.

Cryotop adoption levels out | Source: Chainalysis

This shows that interest still remains high despite the decline in prices in the market. However, it is a long way from the all-time high levels that were recorded back in the second quarter of 2021. What this shows is that more investors come into the market when prices are going up, which is not really a surprise. But the numbers, even during the bear market, show that the retention rate for investors is much higher than in previous bear markets. 

Adoption rates across continents like Africa and Asia are also the most promising. Nigeria emerged as the country with the highest percentage of the population that uses or owns cryptocurrencies at 32%. At the same time, Vietnam is the second-highest at 21%.

Brazil, which emerged 7th on the list for global adoption rate, now has the largest crypto market in Latin America. The United States was up three spots from 2021, going from 8th position last year to 5th position this year.