There are several factors behind what makes a leading crypto economy, ranging from wallet availability and regulations to the number of Bitcoin nodes and crypto ATMs in a country. Coincub, a crypto exchange aggregator, recently published its latest crypto country ranking, which showed Singapore displaced US as the leading crypto economy in the final quarter of 2021.
Singapore is a clear winner despite the substantial amount of data to process. AMB Crypto reports on the details.
Singapore tops key metrics
The southeast Asian country topped metrics such as bank crypto activity, crypto spending, institutional acceptance, regulation, transparency, financial services, and the availability of exchanges and wallets. According to Coincub, almost 10% of the 5.6 million people who live in the country hold crypto. Their report states:
In keeping with maintaining its competitive position, Singapore offers firm but clear legislative guidance with a low tax on crypto earnings combined with a progressive attitude within the financial sector and lots of retail uptake.
The other top five members are Australia, USA, Germany and Canada. Last quarter’s winner, the US, has dropped all the way down to third place because of regulatory crackdowns on crypto. Rounding out the top 10 are Sweden, Portugal, Switzerland, El Salvador, and Japan.
The losers
At the other end of the spectrum, we have countries like Nigeria, New Zealand, and Russia. China is at the very bottom of the ranking was China due to its incessant bans and crackdowns on crypto transactions.
The other side of the ‘coin’
According to most recent data, Singapore had around ten Bitcoin ATMs. However, the city-state’s exorbitant taxes render mining quite unprofitable according to Coincub. Just over a month ago, the crypto exchange Huobi Group decided to set up regional headquarters in Singapore, only to add the Lion City to its list of “restricted jurisdictions” shortly thereafter.
It appears that Singapore will be the crypto hub of the future, but the issue of accessibility to its population still stands. What’s more, Singapore is woefully lagging behind in DeFi acceptance. The report’s authors stated:
Decentralized Finance is behind the rapid interest and growth of cryptocurrency and is underpinned by blockchain technology. The central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, is looking at new financial sector regulations including stronger standards for cryptocurrency service providers and higher requirements for technology risk management in financial institutions.
