The Southeast Asian country has the highest rate of virtual currency ownership in the entire world. finews.asia finds out why.
The US might take the overall top spot, but when it comes to cryptocurrency ownership everyone pales in comparison to Vietnam. At least that seems to be the conclusion of a «CoinJournal» global virtual asset study sent on Friday by UK-based PR agency Digitalloft.
According to the findings, Vietnam had more than 20 million active cryptocurrency traders last year, or more than 20 percent of its population.
The crypto news website attributed that to the fact that there are no crypto taxes in Vietnam and given a wide swath of the population remains unbanked, having limited access to financial services.
Country Scores
The journal evaluated various factors when giving each country a weighted score, including how many blockchain startups it has, total cryptocurrency gains, and the number of companies. Given that, it might be wise to take the results with a pinch of salt.
Still, it is likely of little surprise that the US, the ostensible but-still-unproven home of bitcoin, came first on all counts by a significant margin, probably explaining the alacrity of the Federal Reserve’s widespread attempts to warn investors and better regulate the sector, as finews.asia has reported on.
But the list also contains several surprises. Australia, South Korea, and Japan round out the top ten for the Asia Pacific region, with many of the key financial hubs nowhere to be seen.
China Crackdown
China made 12th overall and it can only be assumed that includes the financial hub of Hong Kong given a crackdown and ban on cryptocurrencies in China in late 2021. Still, even if that solely relates to Hong Kong, it would be a relatively modest rank for a city that has publicly indicated its intentions to become a major hub, as the government itself indicated just last October.
Singapore doesn’t fare much better, placing 14th, just in front of Switzerland and two places ahead of the Philippines.
«CoinJournal» does indicate that the city-state places second when it comes to the number of crypto companies by country, but that numerous scandals and collapses adversely impacted regulation and tax requirements.
Other No Shows
In Europe, both the Netherlands and Switzerland, which are usually characterized as virtual asset hubs, place 13th and 15th respectively.
That seems to be a surprisingly poor showing, with Switzerland appearing to have a relatively small number of blockchain startups and crypto companies (both 71) than most countries higher up on the list, something that is slightly astonishing given all the attention being paid to the Zug Crypto Valley.
What is even more startling is that both the UK, Germany, and France place so highly, coming in at 2nd, third and fourth respectively.
Crypto Winter
Bitcoin’s recent recovery in price is leading many to think that the worst days of last year’s crypto winter may be behind us. A quick look at the latest news on the website indicates that may be remiss.
The main story is about a Netherlands regulatory fine, followed by ways readers can uncover crypto fraud. That is followed by a very pessimistic bank forecast of Coinbase stock and the SEC’s recent rejection of Ark Investment and 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF application.
All in all, we don't appear to be quite there yet.
