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There are many supporters of Bitcoin out there who would assert that the cryptocurrency will leave the greatest impression on the developing nations. It has been enjoying the favorite status for quite some time now and is believed to empower those in the emerging markets to have access to banking equivalent services that would offer them a global connect.
While these arguments do make Bitcoin as super beneficial, the reality has not witnessed such a massive adoption of this digital currency yet. However, according to the recent research, upcoming markets are going in for bitcoins rapidly and their purchasing patterns also imply their actual interest in BTC that’s been growing gradually.
Adoption of Bitcoin
As per Passport Capital’s research, now Local Bitcoin’s trading volume in the emerging markets significantly exceeds than the developed markets.
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For this research, Passport Capital utilized data from various sources such as MSCI classifications and Coin.Dance, to ascertain the type of market each country fell into. The study revealed that ample of Europe, Australia, North America, Singapore, New Zealand, and Japan were categorized into the developed nation’s category, as one would expect.
On the other hand, the long list of emerging markets included India, Colombia, Poland, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Egypt, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Russia, Qatar, Turkey, South Africa, Thailand, China, UAE, Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Taiwan, as well as Philippines.
In addition to these two categories, MSCI had defined one more market called “frontier markets” though it seems Passport Capital has not considered it may be because of the lack of availability of local bitcoins in multiple of such frontier market nations.
Fascinatingly enough, it is not the first time that the developing markets have outperformed the developed ones. The year of 2017 too had witnessed the same after the initial two quarters wherein the local bitcoin had registered increased trading volumes in developing nations than it did in the developed ones.
Looking at the research, it does seem encouraging for upcoming markets to record such a huge percentage of crypto trading. But the figures don’t actually indicate similar results when it comes to Bitcoin’s actual adoption compared to the developed markets. That’s perhaps due to the availability of multiple options for people with dedicated bank accounts and even easier access to the trading platforms for digital assets.
The research, however, has drawn attention to one interesting fact. It suggests that developed nations’ interest in local bitcoin trading follows its price while the emerging markets have recorded an increase in volume in immediate years, irrespective of the drop in price. That means the crypto has been actually in use in the emerging markets while buyers belonging to the developed nations were only speculating on it.
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It has also been suggested that the developing markets have a number of usage of Bitcoin, so their increasing interest isn’t surprising. For example, to use it for having access to a wider global digital economy or as one of the ways of opting out of their country’s economy during the times of political or financial crisis.
While the latter part of 2017 had seen the rise and fall in local bitcoin’s price as well as trading volume, the interest in purchasing the crypto had dropped in the developed markets until recently. Contrarily, the buying interest has only grown in the developing markets consistently since the beginning of 2018 post a brief down period. The research points it out as utilization other than pure speculation.
