The 2024 Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index reveals a powerful shift in the global cryptocurrency landscape, with Central and Southern Asia (CSAO) and Oceania emerging as dominant forces. This year, seven countries from the CSAO region rank among the top 20 nations embracing digital assets at the grassroots level. The findings highlight how economic conditions, financial inclusion needs, and technological access are shaping real-world crypto usage across diverse markets.
By analyzing on-chain and off-chain data, Chainalysis evaluates how individuals and communities use cryptocurrencies—not just for speculation, but for remittances, savings, commerce, and decentralized finance (DeFi). This report focuses on practical adoption rather than market capitalization or trading volume alone.
How the Global Crypto Adoption Index Works
The Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index ranks 151 countries based on four weighted sub-indices that reflect different dimensions of real-world crypto use. Each sub-index measures the value of cryptocurrency received through specific services—centralized exchanges and DeFi protocols—adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita GDP. This adjustment ensures fair comparisons between high- and low-income nations.
The final score is calculated as the geometric mean of the four sub-indices, normalized to a 0–1 scale. A score closer to 1 indicates higher relative adoption intensity within a country’s economic context.
👉 Discover how your country ranks in real-world crypto adoption today.
Sub-Index 1: Value Received on Centralized Services (PPP-Adjusted)
This metric evaluates how much cryptocurrency individuals in each country receive via centralized platforms—such as exchanges—relative to their average income. By adjusting for PPP-based per capita GDP, the index highlights nations where crypto plays a more significant role in everyday financial life. For example, if two countries receive equal amounts of crypto on centralized services, the one with lower average income ranks higher, indicating greater relative reliance on digital assets.
Sub-Index 2: Retail Value Received on Centralized Services (PPP-Adjusted)
To isolate grassroots adoption from institutional or whale activity, this sub-index focuses only on retail-sized transactions—those under $10,000. It reflects how ordinary people use crypto for personal finance, peer-to-peer payments, or small investments. Again, rankings are adjusted by PPP per capita GDP to emphasize meaningful usage in economically vulnerable populations.
Sub-Index 3: Value Received via DeFi Protocols (PPP-Adjusted)
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) represents a growing frontier in global crypto adoption. This sub-index measures total value flowing into DeFi protocols from users in each country, normalized by income levels. High scores suggest strong engagement with lending, borrowing, yield farming, and other decentralized financial tools.
Sub-Index 4: Retail Value Received via DeFi Protocols (PPP-Adjusted)
Similar to Sub-Index 2, this category narrows the focus to retail-scale DeFi interactions—transactions under $10,000. It helps identify countries where average citizens are actively participating in decentralized ecosystems without relying on large capital inputs.
Key Methodology Updates for 2024
To improve accuracy and relevance, Chainalysis introduced two major changes this year:
Update 1: Refined Measurement of DeFi Activity
Previously, all inflows into DeFi smart contracts were counted toward adoption metrics. However, many of these flows represent internal protocol movements—not user-driven activity. In 2024, only incoming transfers from individual wallets are counted when calculating value received by DeFi protocols.
For example:
- When a user swaps ETH for DAI via a DeFi router contract, only the initial transfer from their wallet to the protocol is counted.
- Intermediate steps—like wrapping ETH into wETH or routing through liquidity pools—are excluded.
This change reduces inflated totals caused by multi-step transactions while preserving true user engagement data.
Update 2: Removal of P2P Exchange Sub-Index
In prior years, peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange volumes were included as a proxy for grassroots adoption. However, due to a significant decline in P2P trading activity—especially after the shutdown of LocalBitcoins.com—the data no longer reliably reflects current trends. As a result, this sub-index has been removed to maintain index integrity.
Top 20 Countries in the 2024 Crypto Adoption Index
Central and Southern Asia continues to lead global crypto adoption. Seven countries from this region—including Vietnam, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia—are ranked in the top 20. These nations share common drivers: high mobile internet penetration, large unbanked or underbanked populations, and demand for affordable cross-border remittance solutions.
Oceania also performs strongly, with several Pacific Island nations showing disproportionate engagement with digital currencies relative to their size. This reflects innovative local use cases, including remittances from overseas workers and community-based blockchain initiatives.
Latin America remains a key player, driven by economic volatility and inflation hedging needs. Nigeria leads African representation, continuing its legacy as a hub for crypto-enabled financial inclusion.
👉 See which platforms are driving mass adoption in emerging markets.
Global Crypto Activity Trends in 2024
Between Q4 2023 and Q1 2024, total global crypto transaction value surged past previous peaks seen during the 2021 bull market. This growth is not limited to speculation—it reflects increasing utility in real-world applications.
While last year’s adoption surge was primarily fueled by low-income countries seeking alternatives to unstable banking systems, 2024 shows broader participation across all income brackets. Notably:
- High-income countries saw increased DeFi and NFT activity earlier in the year but have since cooled slightly.
- Middle- and low-income regions continue steady growth across both centralized and decentralized platforms.
Regional Highlights
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Strong growth in DeFi usage correlates with rising interest in altcoins and yield-generating protocols.
- Latin America: Countries like Argentina and Brazil show increased use of stablecoins for inflation protection.
- Eastern Europe: Rising DeFi activity suggests growing interest in permissionless financial tools amid geopolitical uncertainty.
These patterns underscore a global shift toward practical crypto use cases beyond price speculation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What does "PPP-adjusted" mean in the index?
A: PPP stands for Purchasing Power Parity—a way to compare economic productivity and living standards across countries by accounting for cost-of-living differences. Adjusting for PPP allows fairer comparisons of crypto usage relative to income levels.
Q: Why are wealthy countries often ranked lower?
A: High absolute transaction volumes in rich nations don’t necessarily indicate widespread adoption. The index prioritizes relative usage intensity—how much crypto people use compared to their income—favoring countries where it plays a more essential financial role.
Q: Is this index measuring investment or real-world use?
A: It emphasizes real-world use—remittances, payments, savings—especially at the retail level. Large institutional trades or speculative whale movements are filtered out to highlight grassroots adoption.
Q: How reliable is web traffic data for estimating usage?
A: While some users may obscure their location via VPNs, the dataset covers over 13 billion page views and hundreds of millions of transactions. At this scale, anomalies are statistically negligible and validated against expert insights from local crypto operators.
Q: Does the index include stablecoins?
A: Yes. Stablecoins are crucial in cross-border payments and inflation-prone economies and are fully accounted for in both centralized and DeFi transaction values.
Q: Can I access the full dataset?
A: Detailed rankings and methodology are available in Chainalysis’ full Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, which explores regional trends, regulatory impacts, and emerging use cases.
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