Central and Southern Asia emerges as leader in global crypto adoption

Seven countries in the top 20 list for the highest global crypto adoption index came from Central and Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO). The region even contributed $750 billion of the global crypto asset inflows value received between July 2023 and July 2024. This places CSAO as the third-largest crypto region, behind only North America and Western Europe and well ahead of other regions.

According to the Chainalysis report, crypto activity in the CSAO region was primarily fueled by centralized exchanges and the rise in institutional activity.

CSAO embraces crypto, with India leading grassroots crypto adoption worldwide

Central and Southern Asia and Oceania account for about 35% of the top 20 countries in the global crypto adoption index, represented by India, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, and Cambodia.

The region also accounts for over $750 billion in inflows between July 2023 and July 2024, making up 16.6% of the global value received. 

Moreover, India is now the global leader in grassroots crypto adoption and even leads worldwide in centralized service value and retail centralized service value received in the last year, despite added regulations on the country’s crypto industry.

India’s crypto environment, however, has shifted to more overseas exchanges with more favorable environments, considering the steep capital gains tax and transaction taxes imposed on cryptocurrencies.

International exchanges like Binance, HTX, Kraken, Gate.io, KuCoin, Bitstamp, MEXC, and Bitfinex were at odds with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit over anti-money laundering compliance issues in December 2023.

The financial commission even asked India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to restrict access to the exchanges’ URLs. Nevertheless, Indian customers can still use exchange applications if installed beforehand. 

However, this August India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) gave clearance for Binance to operate in the country after earning regulatory approval for its decision to comply with its anti-money laundering laws.

Indonesia and Singapore show impressive crypto acceptance and activity

Indonesia has also shown remarkable progress, surpassing India in crypto value received between July 2023 and 2024, earning over $157 billion. The Indonesian crypto market boasts one of the fastest-growing crypto markets in the region, growing by nearly 200%. 

Barry Matthew Meyer, Product Manager at Pintu, commented:

I believe Indonesia’s growing crypto market is primarily due to the novelty of crypto and the promise of quick profits—many people still see crypto as a speculative financial instrument.

~Barry Matthew Meyer

Singapore’s crypto market is also growing tremendously, with several crypto consumers using digital assets for payments. By Q2 2024, digital payment platforms in Singapore had seen over $1 billion worth of crypto assets in transactions.