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Germany has unseated Singapore as the most crypto-friendly country, according to a report by Coincub.
The company’s first quarter 2022 report ranked 46 countries based on a range of factors, including newly added categories such as the number of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in each country, fraud case prevalence and the availability of crypto courses by leading institutions.
“As events develop, we go beyond legislation or pure numbers and introduce new dimensions that are crucial for defining a country’s crypto friendliness or maturity,” Coincub CEO Sergiu Hamza said in a statement.
Germany ranked fourth on Coincub’s list last year.
The upgrade comes after crypto exchange KuCoin published a report last month showing that 16% of the German population between ages 18 and 60 own crypto or have traded it in the past six months. Forty-one percent of those investors intend to increase their allocations to the space in the coming six months.
German magazine Capital first reported in December that the country’s savings banks, which hold more than 1 trillion euros, were looking to offer a wallet to trade cryptocurrency. The Coincub report called the decision a “groundbreaking” development that signals higher institutional acceptance of crypto.
German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse has also listed more than 20 crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) on its digital exchange, Xetra, over the past few months. Fund issuers such as WisdomTree, CoinShares and 21Shares have all listed products in the country recently.
Singapore, which previously ranked number one, dropped to second due to government decisions to restrict crypto services advertising and a clampdown on bitcoin ATMs, according to Coincub.
The United States ranked third among crypto-friendly countries due in part to its decision to seek clearer crypto regulation, the report noted.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order urging government agencies to work together to study the “responsible development” of digital assets. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen echoed those calls in a discussion that MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor called “probably the single-most important speech of the 21st century.”
The US also ranked first in mining as the country accounts for about 35% of global hashrate — ahead of second-place Kazakhstan, which totals about 18%.
The United Arab Emirates, which ranked 22, was a new addition to the list following its recent plans to become one of the world’s crypto hotspots.
Dubai last month revealed its first cryptocurrency legislation overseen by a new regulatory agency, and the emirate has recently granted licenses to crypto exchanges FTX and Binance to operate there.
China remained at the list’s bottom following its widespread ban on trading and mining crypto.