blockster.com
While the North American crypto market grew over 1,000% within one year, Eastern Asia experienced a decline in the share of global crypto transaction volume.
According to blockchain and cryptocurrency forensic company, Chainalysis in its 2021 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, North America, between July 2020 and June 2021 received $750 billion worth of crypto, thereby accounting for 18.4% of the world’s total transactions. The report also noted that the United States ranked number one in the region.
Also, the monthly transaction volume in North America between July 2020 and May 2021 skyrocketed more than 1,000%, with $14.4 billion recorded in July 2020 and peaking in May 2021 to $164 billion, before declining to a little over $100 billion in June.
The Chainalysis report credited the above growth to DeFi, stating that DeFi-based transactions accounted for nearly 40% of North America’s total crypto transaction volume between July 2020 and June 2021. During the same time frame, traders in the region sent about $276 billion in cryptocurrency to DeFi platforms. Meanwhile, Chainalysis said that North America’s DeFi activity was only second to Central, Northern Western Europe (CNWE), which spent $389 million.
Furthermore, most of the DeFi-related transactions were handled by the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap, putting the platform at the number one spot. Other popular DeFi protocols dYdX and Compound, were the most popular platforms in North America. Within the region, the U.S. again was number one in the DeFi Adoption Index.
While North America is one of the world’s strongest cryptocurrency markets, the East Asian market has been on a decline. The Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index revealed a drop in rankings among countries in the region. China is ranked 13th, falling nine places from its previous fourth position; South Korea crashed 17th to 40th; Hong Kong dropped from 23rd to 39th, while Japan maintains the 80th position, falling from its previous 71st.
However, DeFi is seeing significant growth in East Asia, with the cryptocurrency exchange giant being the most popular in the region. DEXs dYdX and Uniswap came in second and third respectively. Just like the U.S. in North America, Hong Kong is East Asia’s top DeFi adopter, accounting for more than half of the total transactions.
The Chainalysis report also touched on cryptocurrency mining, noting that the decline in mining activity in East Asia since May could have contributed to the fall in liquidity. China's crackdown on Bitcoin mining led to an exodus of miners from the country to friendlier jurisdictions.
According to Chainalysis, mining pools based in China have lost 50% of their proceeds between January and July 2021, while mining pools based outside of the country doubled their earnings within the period.
Recent data by the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) revealed that the US displaced China as the global leader in bitcoin mining hashrate.